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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18037-h.zip b/18037-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..80227be --- /dev/null +++ b/18037-h.zip diff --git a/18037-h/18037-h.htm b/18037-h/18037-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3edbc88 --- /dev/null +++ b/18037-h/18037-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3391 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>The Story of Ida Pfeiffer</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4 { + text-align: left; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + color: gray;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">The Story of Ida Pfeiffer, by Anonymous</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Story of Ida Pfeiffer, by Anonymous + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Story of Ida Pfeiffer + and Her Travels in Many Lands + + +Author: Anonymous + + + +Release Date: March 22, 2006 [eBook #18037] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF IDA PFEIFFER*** +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>This eBook was prepared by Les Bowler.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/coverb.jpg"> +<img alt="Book cover" src="images/covers.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h1>THE STORY OF IDA PFEIFFER<br /> +And Her Travels in Many Lands.</h1> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page4.jpg"> +<img alt="Queen Pomare’s Palace, Tahiti" src="images/page4.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>“I’ll put a girdle round the world.”—<span class="smcap">shakespeare</span>.</p> +<p>LONDON: THOMAS NELSON AND SONS.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">edinburgh and new york</span>.<br /> +1879.</p> +<p><!-- page 7--><a name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 7</span>CONTENTS.</p> +<p>I. HER BIOGRAPHY.</p> +<p>II. JOURNEY ROUND THE WORLD.</p> +<p>III. NORTHWARD.</p> +<p>IV. LAST TRAVELS.</p> +<h2><!-- page 9--><a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 9</span>CHAPTER +I.—HER BIOGRAPHY.</h2> +<p>Ida Pfeiffer, the celebrated traveller, was born in Vienna on the +14th of October 1797. She was the third child of a well-to-do +merchant, named Reyer; and at an early age gave indications of an original +and self-possessed character. The only girl in a family of six +children, her predilections were favoured by the circumstances which +surrounded her. She was bold, enterprising, fond of sport and +exercise; loved to dress like her brothers, and to share in their escapades. +Dolls she contemptuously put aside, preferring drums; and a sword or +a gun was valued at much more than a doll’s house. In some +respects her father brought her up strictly; she was fed, <!-- page 10--><a name="page10"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 10</span>like +her brothers, on a simple and even meagre diet, and trained to habits +of prompt obedience; but he did nothing to discourage her taste for +more violent exercises than are commonly permitted to young girls.</p> +<p>She was only in her tenth year, however, when he died; and she then +passed naturally enough under the maternal control. Between her +own inclinations and her mother’s ideas of maidenly culture a +great contest immediately arose. Her mother could not understand +why her daughter should prefer the violin to the piano, and the masculine +trousers to the feminine petticoat. In fact, she did not understand +Ida, and it may be assumed that Ida did not understand her.</p> +<p>In 1809 Vienna was captured by the French army under Napoleon; a +disgrace which the brave and spirited Ida felt most keenly. Some +of the victorious troops were quartered in the house of her mother, +who thought it politic to treat them with courtesy; but her daughter +neither could nor would repress her dislike. When compelled to +be present at a grand review which Napoleon held in Schönbrunn, +she turned her back as the emperor rode past. For this hazardous +manœuvre she was <!-- page 11--><a name="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 11</span>summarily +punished; and to prevent her from repeating it when the emperor returned, +her mother held her by the shoulders. This was of little avail, +however, as Ida perseveringly persisted in keeping her eyes shut.</p> +<p>At the age of thirteen she was induced to resume the garb of her +sex, though it was some time before she could accustom her wild free +movements to it. She was then placed in charge of a tutor, who +seems to have behaved to her with equal skill and delicacy. “He +showed,” she says, “great patience and perseverance in combating +my overstrained and misdirected notions. As I had learned to fear +my parents rather than love them, and this gentleman was, so to speak, +the first human being who had displayed any sympathy and affection for +me, I clung to him in return with enthusiastic attachment, desirous +of fulfilling his every wish, and never so happy as when he appeared +satisfied with my exertions. He took the entire charge of my education, +and though it cost me some tears to abandon my youthful visions, and +engage in pursuits I had hitherto regarded with contempt, to all this +I submitted out of my affection for him. I even learned many feminine +avocations, such as sewing, knitting, <!-- page 12--><a name="page12"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 12</span>and +cookery. To him I owed the insight I obtained into the duties +and true position of my sex; and it was he who transformed me from a +romp and a hoyden into a modest quiet girl.”</p> +<p>Already a great longing for travel had entered into her mind. +She longed to see new scenes, new peoples, new manners and customs. +She read eagerly every book of travel that fell into her hands; followed +with profound interest the career of every adventurous explorer, and +blamed her sex that prevented her from following their heroic examples. +For a while a change was effected in the current of her thoughts by +a strong attachment which sprung up between her and her teacher, who +by this time had given up his former profession, and had obtained an +honourable position in the civil service. It was natural enough +that in the close intimacy which existed between them such an affection +should be developed. Ida’s mother, however, regarded it +with grave disapproval, and exacted from the unfortunate girl a promise +that she would neither see nor write to her humble suitor again. +The result was a dangerous illness: on her recovery from which her mother +insisted on her accepting for a husband Dr. Pfeiffer, a widower, with +a grown-up son, but an opulent and <!-- page 13--><a name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 13</span>distinguished +advocate in Lemberg, who was then on a visit to Vienna. Though +twenty-four years older than Ida, he was attracted by her grace and +simplicity, and offered his hand. Weary of home persecutions, +Ida accepted it, and the marriage took place on May 1st, 1820.</p> +<p>If she did not love her husband, she respected him, and their married +life was not unhappy. In a few months, however, her husband’s +integrity led to a sad change of fortune. He had fully and fearlessly +exposed the corruption of the Austrian officials in Galicia, and had +thus made many enemies. He was compelled to give up his office +as councillor, and, deprived of his lucrative practice, to remove to +Vienna in search of employment. Through the treachery of a friend, +Ida’s fortune was lost, and the ill-fated couple found themselves +reduced to the most painful exigencies. Vienna, Lemberg, Vienna +again, Switzerland, everywhere Dr. Pfeiffer sought work, and everywhere +found himself baffled by some malignant influence. “Heaven +only knows,” says Madame Pfeiffer in her autobiography, “what +I suffered during eighteen years of my married life; not, indeed, from +any ill-treatment on my husband’s part, but from poverty and want. +I came of a <!-- page 14--><a name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 14</span>wealthy +family, and had been accustomed from my earliest youth to order and +comfort; and now I frequently knew not where I should lay my head, or +find a little money to buy the commonest necessaries. I performed +household drudgery, and endured cold and hunger; I worked secretly for +money, and gave lessons in drawing and music; and yet, in spite of all +my exertions, there were many days when I could hardly put anything +but dry bread before my poor children for their dinner.” +These children were two sons, whose education their mother entirely +undertook, until, after old Madame Reyer’s death in 1837, she +succeeded to an inheritance, which lifted the little family out of the +slough of poverty, and enabled her to provide her sons with good teachers.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page15.jpg"> +<img alt="Beirut and mountains of Lebanon" src="images/page15.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>As they grew up and engaged successfully in professional pursuits, +Madame Pfeiffer, who had lost her husband in 1838, found herself once +more under the spell of her old passion for travel, and in a position +to gratify her adventurous inclinations. Her means were somewhat +limited, it is true, for she had done much for her husband and her children; +but economy was natural to her, and she retained the simple habits she +had acquired in her childhood. <!-- page 17--><a name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 17</span>She +was strong, healthy, courageous, and accomplished; and at length, after +maturing her plans with anxious consideration, she took up her pilgrim’s +staff, and sallied forth alone.</p> +<p>Her first object was to visit the Holy Land, and tread in the hallowed +footsteps of our Lord. For this purpose she left Vienna on the +22nd of March 1842, and embarked on board the steamer that was to convey +her down the Danube to the Black Sea and the city of Constantinople. +Thence she repaired to Broussa, Beirut, Jaffa, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, +Nazareth, Damascus, Baalbek, the Lebanon, Alexandria, and Cairo; and +travelled across the sandy Desert to the Isthmus of Suez and the Red +Sea. From Egypt the adventurous lady returned home by way of Sicily +and Italy, visiting Naples, Rome, and Florence, and arriving in Vienna +in December 1842. In the following year she published the record +of her experiences under the title of a “Journey of a Viennese +Lady to the Holy Land.” It met with a very favourable reception, +to which the simplicity of its style and the faithfulness of its descriptions +fully entitled it.</p> +<p>With the profits of this book to swell her funds, Madame Pfeiffer +felt emboldened to undertake a new <!-- page 18--><a name="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 18</span>expedition; +and this time she resolved on a northern pilgrimage, expecting in <i>Ultima +Thule</i> to see nature manifested on a novel and surprising scale. +She began her journey to Iceland on the 10th of April 1845, and returned +to Vienna on the 4th of October. Her narrative of this second +voyage will be found, necessarily much abridged and condensed, in the +following pages.</p> +<p>What should she do next? Success had increased her courage +and strengthened her resolution, and she could think of nothing fit +for her energies and sufficient for her curiosity but a voyage round +the world! She argued that greater privations and fatigue than +she had endured in Syria and Iceland she could scarcely be called upon +to encounter. The outlay did not frighten her; for she had learned +by experience how little is required, if the traveller will but practise +the strictest economy and resolutely forego many comforts and all superfluities. +Her savings amounted to a sum insufficient, perhaps, for such travellers +as Prince Pückler-Muskau, Chateaubriand, or Lamartine for a fortnight’s +excursion; but for a woman who wanted to see much, but cared for no +personal indulgence, it seemed enough to last during a journey of two +or three years. And so it proved.</p> +<p><!-- page 19--><a name="page19"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 19</span>The +heroic woman set out alone on the 1st of May 1846, and proceeded first +to Rio Janeiro. On the 3rd of February 1847, she sailed round +Cape Horn, and on the 2nd of March landed at Valparaiso. Thence +she traversed the broad Pacific to Tahiti, where she was presented to +Queen Pomare. In the beginning of July we find her at Macao; afterwards +she visited Hong Kong and Canton, where the appearance of a white woman +produced a remarkable and rather disagreeable sensation. By way +of Singapore she proceeded to Ceylon, which she carefully explored, +making excursions to Colombo, Candy, and the famous temple of Dagoba. +Towards the end of October she landed at Madras, and thence went on +to Calcutta, ascending the Ganges to the holy city of Benares, and striking +across the country to Bombay. Late in the month of April 1848 +she sailed for Persia, and from Bushire traversed the interior as far +as legend-haunted Bagdad. After a pilgrimage to the ruins of Ctesiphon +and Babylon, this bold lady accompanied a caravan through the dreary +desert to Mosul and the vast ruins of Nineveh, and afterwards to the +salt lake of Urumiyeh and the city of Tabreez. It is certain that +no woman ever accomplished a more daring <!-- page 20--><a name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 20</span>exploit! +The mental as well as physical energy required was enormous; and only +a strong mind and a strong frame could have endured the many hardships +consequent on her undertaking—the burning heat by day, the inconveniences +of every kind at night, the perils incidental to her sex, meagre fare, +a filthy couch, and constant apprehension of attack by robber bands. +The English consul at Tabreez, when she introduced herself to him, found +it hard to believe that a woman could have accomplished such an enterprise.</p> +<p>At Tabreez, Madame Pfeiffer was presented to the Viceroy, and obtained +permission to visit his harem. On August 11th, 1848, she resumed +her journey, crossing Armenia, Georgia, and Mingrelia; she touched afterwards +at Anapa, Kertch, and Sebastopol, landed at Odessa, and returned home +by way of Constantinople, Greece, the Ionian Islands, and Trieste, arriving +in Vienna on the 4th of November 1848, just after the city had been +recaptured from the rebels by the troops of Prince Windischgrätz.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page21.jpg"> +<img alt="Constantinople" src="images/page21.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Ida Pfeiffer was now a woman of note. Her name was known in +every civilized country; and it was not unnatural that great celebrity +should <!-- page 23--><a name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span> +attach to a female who, alone, and without the protection of rank or +official recommendation, had travelled 2800 miles by land, and 35,000 +miles by sea. Hence, her next work, “A Woman’s Journey +Round the World,” was most favourably received, and translated +both into French and English. A summary of it is included in our +little volume.</p> +<p>The brave adventurer at first, on her return home, spoke of her travelling +days as over, and, at the age of fifty-four, as desirous of peace and +rest. But this tranquil frame of mind was of very brief duration. +Her love of action and thirst of novelty could not long be repressed; +and as she felt herself still strong and healthy, with energies as quick +and lively as ever, she resolved on a second circuit of the globe. +Her funds having been increased by a grant of 1500 florins from the +Austrian Government, she left Vienna on the 18th of March 1851, proceeded +to London, and thence to Cape Town, where she arrived on the 11th of +August. For a while she hesitated between a visit to the interior +of Africa and a voyage to Australia; but at last she sailed to Singapore, +and determined to explore the East Indian Archipelago. At Sarawak, +the British settlement in Borneo, she was warmly <!-- page 24--><a name="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 24</span>welcomed +by Sir James Brooke, a man of heroic temper and unusual capacities for +command and organization. She adventured among the Dyaks, and +journeyed westward to Pontianak, and the diamond mines of Landak. +We next meet with her in Java, and afterwards in Sumatra, where she +boldly trusted herself among the cannibal Battas, who had hitherto resented +the intrusion of any European. Returning to Java, she saw almost +all that it had of natural wonders or natural beauties; and then departed +on a tour through the Sunda Islands and the Moluccas, visiting Banda, +Amboyna, Ceram, Ternate, and Celebes.</p> +<p>For a second time she traversed the Pacific, but on this occasion +in an opposite direction. For two months she saw no land; but +on the 27th September 1853 she arrived at San Francisco. At the +close of the year she sailed for Callao. Thence she repaired to +Lima, with the intention of crossing the Andes, and pushing eastward, +through the interior of South America, to the Brazilian coast. +A revolution in Peru, however, compelled her to change her course, and +she returned to Ecuador, which served as a starting-point for her ascent +of the Cordilleras. After having the good fortune <!-- page 25--><a name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 25</span>to +witness an eruption of Cotopaxi, she retraced her steps to the west. +In the neighbourhood of Guayaquil she had two very narrow escapes: one, +by a fall from her mule; and next, by an immersion in the River Guaya, +which teems with alligators. Meeting with neither courtesy nor +help from the Spanish Americans—a superstitious, ignorant, and +degraded race—she gladly set sail for Panama.</p> +<p>At the end of May she crossed the Isthmus, and sailed to New Orleans. +Thence she ascended the Mississippi to Napoleon, and the Arkansas to +Fort Smith. After suffering from a severe attack of fever, she +made her way to St. Louis, and then directed her steps northward to +St. Paul, the Falls of St. Antony, Chicago, and thence to the great +Lakes and “mighty Niagara.” After an excursion into +Canada, she visited New York, Boston, and other great cities, crossed +the Atlantic, and arrived in England on the 21st of November 1854. +Two years later she published a narrative of her adventures, entitled +“My Second Journey Round the World.”</p> +<p>Madame Pfeiffer’s last voyage was to Madagascar, and will be +found described in the closing chapter of this little volume. +In Madagascar she contracted <!-- page 26--><a name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 26</span>a +dangerous illness, from which she temporarily recovered; but on her +return to Europe it was evident that her constitution had received a +severe blow. She gradually grew weaker. Her disease proved +to be cancer of the liver, and the physicians pronounced it incurable. +After lingering a few weeks in much pain, she passed away on the night +of the 27th of October 1858, in the sixty-third year of her age.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>This remarkable woman is described as of short stature, thin, and +slightly bent. Her movements were deliberate and measured. +She was well-knit and of considerable physical energy, and her career +proves her to have been possessed of no ordinary powers of endurance. +The reader might probably suppose that she was what is commonly known +as a strong-minded woman. The epithet would suit her if seriously +applied, for she had undoubtedly a clear, strong intellect, a cool judgment, +and a resolute purpose; but it would be thoroughly inapplicable in the +satirical sense in which it is commonly used. There was nothing +masculine about her. On the contrary, she was so reserved and +so unassuming that it required an intimate knowledge of her to fathom +<!-- page 27--><a name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 27</span>the +depths of her acquirements and experience. “In her whole +appearance and manner,” we are told, “was a staidness that +seemed to indicate the practical housewife, with no thought soaring +beyond her domestic concerns.”</p> +<p>This quiet, silent woman, travelled nearly 20,000 miles by land and +150,000 miles by sea; visiting regions which no European had previously +penetrated, or where the bravest men had found it difficult to make +their way; undergoing a variety of severe experiences; opening up numerous +novel and surprising scenes; and doing all this with the scantiest means, +and unassisted by powerful protection or royal patronage. We doubt +whether the entire round of human enterprise presents anything more +remarkable or more admirable. And it would be unfair to suppose +that she was actuated only by a feminine curiosity. Her leading +motive was a thirst for knowledge. At all events, if she had a +passion for travelling, it must be admitted that her qualifications +as a traveller were unusual. Her observation was quick and accurate; +her perseverance was indefatigable; her courage never faltered; while +she possessed a peculiar talent for first awakening, and then profiting +by, the interest and <!-- page 28--><a name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 28</span>sympathy +of those with whom she came in contact.</p> +<p>To assert that her travels were wholly without scientific value would +be unjust; Humboldt and Carl Ritter were of a different opinion. +She made her way into regions which had never before been trodden by +European foot; and the very fact of her sex was a frequent protection +in her most dangerous undertakings. She was allowed to enter many +places which would have been rigorously barred against male travellers. +Consequently, her communications have the merit of embodying many new +facts in geography and ethnology, and of correcting numerous popular +errors. Science derived much benefit also from her valuable collections +of plants, animals, and minerals.</p> +<p>We conclude with the eulogium pronounced by an anonymous biographer:—“Straightforward +in character, and endued with high principle, she possessed, moreover, +a wisdom and a promptitude in action seldom equalled among her sex. +Ida Pfeiffer may, indeed, justly be classed among those women who richly +compensate for the absence of outward charms by their remarkable energy +and the rare qualities of their minds.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page29.jpg"> +<img alt="Rio Janeiro" src="images/page29.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><!-- page 31--><a name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 31</span>CHAPTER +II.—JOURNEY ROUND THE WORLD.</h2> +<p>Prompted by a boundless thirst for knowledge and an insatiable desire +to see new places and new things, Madame Pfeiffer left Vienna on the +1st of May 1846, and proceeded to Hamburg, where she embarked on board +a Danish brig, the <i>Caroline</i>, for Rio Janeiro. As the voyage +was divested of romantic incidents, we shall land the reader without +delay at the great sea-port of the Brazilian empire.</p> +<p>The traveller’s description of it is not very favourably coloured. +The streets are dirty, and the houses, even the public buildings, insignificant. +The Imperial Palace has not the slightest architectural pretensions. +The finest square is the Largo do Roico, but this would not be admitted +into Belgravia. It is impossible to speak in high terms <!-- page 32--><a name="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 32</span>even +of the churches, the interior of which is not less disappointing than +their exterior. And as is the town, so are the inhabitants. +Negroes and mulattoes do not make up attractive pictures. Some +of the Brazilian and Portuguese women, however, have handsome and expressive +countenances.</p> +<p>Most writers indulge in glowing descriptions of the scenery and climate +of the Brazils; of the cloudless, radiant sky, and the magic of the +never-ending spring. Madame Ida Pfeiffer admits that the vegetation +is richer, and the soil more fruitful, and nature more exuberantly active +than in any other part of the world; but still, she says, it must not +be thought that all is good and beautiful, and that there is nothing +to weaken the powerful effect of the first impression. The constant +blaze of colour after a while begins to weary; the eye wants rest; the +monotony of the verdure oppresses; and we begin to understand that the +true loveliness of spring is only rightly appreciated when it succeeds +the harsher aspects of winter.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page33.jpg"> +<img alt="Invasion of Ants" src="images/page33.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Europeans suffer much from the climate. The moisture is very +considerable, and renders the heat, which in the hot months rises to +99° in the shade, and 122° in the sun, more difficult to bear. +Fogs <!-- page 35--><a name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 35</span>and +mists are disagreeably common; and whole tracts of country are often +veiled by an impenetrable mist.</p> +<p>The Brazils suffer, too, from a plague of insects,—from mosquitoes, +ants, baraten, and sand-fleas; against the attacks of which the traveller +finds it difficult to defend himself. The ants often appear in +trains of immeasurable length, and pursue their march over every obstacle +that stands in the way. Madame Pfeiffer, during her residence +at a friend’s house, beheld the advance of a swarm of this description. +It was really interesting to see what a regular line they formed; nothing +could make them deviate from the direction on which they had first determined. +Madame Geiger, her friend, told her she was awakened one night by a +terrible itching: she sprang out of bed immediately, and lo, a swarm +of ants were passing over it! There is no remedy for the infliction, +except to wait, with as much patience as one can muster, for the end +of the procession, which frequently lasts four to six hours. It +is possible, to some extent, to protect provisions against their attacks, +by placing the legs of the tables in basins filled with water. +Clothes and linen are enclosed in tightly-fitting tin canisters.</p> +<p><!-- page 36--><a name="page36"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 36</span>The +worst plague of all, however, are the sand-fleas, which attach themselves +to one’s toes, underneath the nail, or sometimes to the soles +of the feet. When a person feels an irritation in these parts, +he must immediately look at the place; and if he discern a tiny black +point, surrounded by a small white ring, the former is the <i>chigoe</i>, +or sand-flea, and the latter the eggs which it has deposited in the +flesh. The first thing to be done is to loosen the skin all round +as far as the white skin is visible; the whole deposit is then extracted, +and a little snuff strewn in the empty space. The blacks perform +this operation with considerable skill.</p> +<p>Rich as the Brazils are in natural productions, they are wanting +in many articles which Europeans regard as of the first importance. +There are sugar and coffee, it is true; but no corn, no potatoes, and +none of our delightful varieties of fruit. The flour of manioc, +obtained from the cassava plant, which forms a staple portion of almost +every dish, supplies the place of bread, but is far from being so nutritious +and strengthening; while the different kinds of sweet-tasting roots +are far inferior in value to our potato. The only fruit which +Madame Pfeiffer thought really excellent, were the oranges, bananas, +<!-- page 37--><a name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 37</span>and +mangoes. The pine-apples are neither very sweet nor very fragrant. +And with regard to two most important articles of consumption, the milk +is very watery, and the meat very dry.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>Our traveller, during her sojourn at Rio Janeiro, made many interesting +excursions in the neighbourhood. One was directed to Petropolis, +a colony founded by Germans in the heart of scenery of the most exquisite +character. Accompanied by Count Berchthold, she sailed for Porto +d’Estrella in one of the regular coasting barks. Their course +carried them across a bay remarkable for its picturesque views. +It lies calmly in the embrace of richly-wooded hills, and is studded +with islands, like a silver shield with emerald bosses. Some of +these islands are completely overgrown with palms, while others are +masses of huge rock, with a carpet of green turf.</p> +<p>Their bark was manned by four negroes and a white skipper. +At first they ran merrily before a favourable wind, but in two hours +the crew were compelled to take to the oars, the method of using which +was exceedingly fatiguing. At each dip of the oar, the rower mounts +upon a bench in front of <!-- page 38--><a name="page38"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 38</span>him, +and then, during the stroke, throws himself off again, with his full +force. In two hours more they passed into the river Geromerino, +and made their way through a world of beautiful aquatic plants which +covered the tranquil waters in every direction. The river banks +are flat, and fringed with underwood and young trees; the background +is formed by ranges of low green hills.</p> +<p>At Porto d’Estrella, Madame Pfeiffer and her companion landed, +and proceeded on foot towards Petropolis. The first eight miles +lay through a broad valley, clothed with dense brambles and young trees, +and shadowed by lofty mountains. The wild pine-apples by the roadside +were very fair to see; they were not quite ripe, but tinted of the most +delicate red. Beautiful humming-birds flashed through the air +like “winged jewels,” and studded the dense foliage with +points of many-coloured light.</p> +<p>After passing through the valley, they reached the Sierra, as the +Brazilians term the practicable mountain-summits. It was three +thousand feet in height, and was ascended by a broad paved road, striking +through the depths of virgin forests.</p> +<p>Madame Pfeiffer had always imagined that the trees in virgin forests +had very thick and lofty <!-- page 39--><a name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 39</span>trunks; +but such was not the case here; probably because the vegetation was +too luxuriant, and the larger trunks have the life crushed out of them +by masses of smaller trees, bushes, creepers, and parasites.</p> +<p>Frequent truppas, or teams of ten mules driven by a negro, as well +as numerous pedestrians, enlivened the path, and prevented our travellers +from observing that their steps were persistently followed up by a negro. +When, however, they arrived at a somewhat lonely spot, this negro suddenly +sprang forward, holding a lasso in one hand and a long knife in the +other, and with threatening gestures gave them to understand that he +intended to murder them, and then drag their dead bodies into the forest!</p> +<p>The travellers were without arms, having been told the road was perfectly +safe; their only weapons were their umbrellas, with the exception of +a clasp-knife. This the brave woman drew from her pocket and opened, +in the calm resolution to sell her life as dearly as possible. +With their umbrellas they parried their adversary’s blows as long +as they could; but he caught hold of Madame Ida’s, which snapped +off, leaving only a piece of the handle in her <!-- page 40--><a name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 40</span>hand. +In the struggle, however, he dropped his knife, which rolled a few steps +away from him. Madame Ida immediately made a dash at it, and thought +she had secured it; but, quicker in his movements than she was, he thrust +her away with his hands and feet, and once more obtained possession +of it. Waving it furiously over his head, he slashed her twice +in the upper part of the left arm. All seemed lost; but in her +extreme peril the brave lady bethought her of her own knife, and struck +at her adversary, wounding him in the hand. At the same moment +Count Berchthold sprang forward, and while he seized the villain with +both arms, Madame Ida Pfeiffer recovered her feet. All this took +place in less than a minute. The negro was now roused into a condition +of maniacal fury; he gnashed his teeth like a wild beast, and brandished +his knife, while uttering fearful threats. The issue of the contest +would probably have been disastrous, but for the opportune arrival of +assistance. Hearing the tramp of horses’ hoofs upon the +road, the negro desisted from his attack, and sprang into the forest. +A couple of horsemen turning the corner of the road, our travellers +hurried to meet them; and having told their tale, which, indeed, their +wounds told <!-- page 41--><a name="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 41</span>eloquently +enough, they leaped from their horses, and entered the wood in pursuit. +A couple of negroes soon afterwards coming up, the villain was captured, +securely pinioned, and, as he would not walk, severely beaten, until, +as most of the blows fell upon his head, Madame Ida Pfeiffer feared +that the wretch’s skull would be broken. Nothing, however, +would induce him to walk, and the negroes were compelled to carry him +bodily, to the nearest house.</p> +<p>The colony of Petropolis proved to be situated in the depth of a +virgin forest, at an elevation of 2500 feet above the sea-level. +At the time of Madame Pfeiffer’s visit it was about fourteen months +old, having been founded for the special purpose of providing the capital +with fruits and vegetables which, in tropical climates, will thrive +only in very elevated situations. It was, of course, in a very +rudimentary condition, the mere embryo of a town; but the country around +it was very picturesque.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>Madame Pfeiffer’s second excursion was into the interior; and +it opened up to her a variety of interesting scenes,—as, for instance, +a manioc-fazenda, or plantation. The manioc plant, it appears, +<!-- page 42--><a name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 42</span>throws +off stalks from four to six feet in height, with a number of large leaves +at their upper extremities. The valuable portion of the plant +is its bulbous root, which frequently weighs two or three pounds, and +supplies the place of corn throughout the Brazils. It is washed, +peeled, and held against the rough edge of a mill-stone, until it is +completely ground into flour. This flour is collected in a basket, +steeped thoroughly in water, and afterwards pressed quite dry by means +of a press. Lastly, it is scattered upon large iron plates, and +slowly dried over a gentle fire. At this stage it resembles a +very coarse kind of flour, and is eaten in two ways;—either mixed +with hot water, until it forms a kind of porridge; or baked in the form +of coarse flour, which is handed round at table in little baskets.</p> +<p>She also saw a coffee plantation. The coffee-trees stand in +rows upon tolerably steep hillocks. Their height ranges from six +feet to twelve; and they begin to bear sometimes as early as the second, +but in no case later than the third year. They are productive +for at least ten years. The leaf is long and slightly serrated, +and the flower white; while the fruit hangs down like a cluster of grapes, +and resembles a large cherry, which varies from green to <!-- page 43--><a name="page43"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 43</span>red, +then to brown, and almost black. While red, the outer shell is +soft; but eventually it becomes perfectly hard, until it may be compared +to a wooden capsule. Blossoms and ripe fruit are found on the +same tree at the same time; so that a crop may be gathered at almost +any season of the year. After the berries are plucked, they are +spread out in spacious areas enclosed by a wall about twelve feet high, +with small drains to carry off the rain-water. Here the coffee +is allowed to dry in the heat of the sun, and it is then shaken into +large stone mortars, where it is lightly pounded with wooden hammers, +set in motion by water power. The whole mass falls into wooden +boxes attached to a long table, at which sit the negro workers, who +separate the coffee from the husk, and put it into flat copper pans. +In these it is carefully and skilfully turned about over a slow fire, +until desiccation is complete. On the whole, says Madame Ida Pfeiffer, +the preparation of the coffee is not laborious, and the harvest much +more easily gathered than one of corn. The negro, while plucking +the coffee, stands erect, and the tree protects him from the heat of +the sun. His only danger is from poisonous snakes, and a sting +from one of these is a very rare occurrence.</p> +<p><!-- page 44--><a name="page44"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 44</span>Another +novelty which much impressed our traveller was the sight of the frequent +burning forests. These are set on fire in order to clear the ground +for cultivation. In most cases she viewed the tremendous spectacle +from a distance; but one day she realized it in all its details, as +her road lay between a wood in flames on the one hand, and the brushwood, +crackling and seething, on the other. The space between the double +rows of fire did not exceed fifty paces in breadth, and was completely +buried in smoke. The spluttering and hissing of the fire was distinctly +audible, and through the dense mass of vapour shot upward thick shafts +and tongues of flame, while now and then the large trees crashed to +the ground, with loud reports, like those of artillery.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page45.jpg"> +<img alt="A Forest of Fire" src="images/page45.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>“On seeing my guide enter this fiery gulf,” says our +traveller, “I was, I must confess, rather frightened;” and +her dread was surely very excusable. She plucked up courage, however, +when she saw that her guide pushed forward. On the threshold, +so to speak, sat two negroes, to indicate the safe, and, in truth, the +only path. The guide, in obedience to their warning, spurred on +his mule, and, followed by Madame Pfeiffer, galloped at full speed across +the desert of fire. Flames to the right of them, flames to the +left of them, onward they dashed, and happily effected the passage in +safety.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p><!-- page 47--><a name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 47</span>Madame +Pfeiffer gives a bright description of the beauties of the road as she +pushed further into the interior. Crossing a small waterfall, +she struck right into the depths of the virgin forest, pursuing a narrow +path which ran along the bank of a little stream. Palms, with +their lordly crests, soared high above the other trees, which, intertwined +by inextricable boughs, formed the loveliest fairy-bowers imaginable; +every stem, every branch was luxuriously festooned with fantastic orchids; +while creepers and ferns glided up the tall, smooth trunks, mingling +with the boughs, and hanging in every direction waving curtains of flowers, +of the sweetest odours and the most vivid colours. With shrill +twittering cry and rapid wings flashed the humming-bird from bough to +bough; the pepper-pecker, with glowing plumage, soared timorously upwards; +while parrots and paroquets, and innumerable birds of beautiful appearance, +added, by their cries and motions, to the liveliness of the scene.</p> +<p>Madame Pfeiffer visited an Indian village. It lay <!-- page 48--><a name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 48</span>deep +in the forest recesses, and consisted of five huts, or rather sheds, +formed of leaves, and measuring eighteen feet by twelve feet, erected +under lofty trees. The frames were formed of four poles stuck +in the ground, with another reaching across; and the roof was wrought +of palm-leaves, by no means impervious to the rain. The sides +were open. In the interior hung a hammock or two; and on the earth +a few roots, Indian corn, and bananas were roasting under a heap of +ashes. In one corner, under the roof, a small supply of provisions +was hoarded up, and round about were scattered a few gourds; these are +used by the Puris as substitutes for “crockery.” Their +weapons, the long bows and arrows, leaned against the wall.</p> +<p>Madame Pfeiffer describes the Puri Indians as even uglier than the +negroes. Their complexion is a light bronze; they are stunted +in stature, well-knit, and about the middle size. Their features +are broad and somewhat compressed; their hair is thick, long, and of +a coal-black colour. The men wear it hanging straight down; the +women, in plaits fastened to the back of the head, and sometimes falling +loosely down about their persons. Their forehead is broad and +low, and the nose somewhat flattened; the eyes are <!-- page 49--><a name="page49"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 49</span>long +and narrow, almost like those of the Chinese; and the mouth is large, +with rather thick lips. To enhance the effect of these various +charms, the countenance bears a peculiar look of stupidity, which may +be attributed perhaps to the way in which the mouth is kept always open. +Women, as well as males, are generally tattooed of a reddish or blue +colour, round the mouth, moustachio-wise. Both sexes are addicted +to smoking, and look upon brandy as the <i>summum bonum</i> of human +life.</p> +<p>The Indians, ugly as they were, gave Madame Pfeiffer a hospitable +welcome. After an evening meal, in which roasted monkey and parrot +were the chief dishes, they performed one of their characteristic dances. +A quantity of wood was heaped up into a funeral pile, and set on fire; +the men then danced around it in a ring. They threw their bodies +from side to side with much awkwardness, but always moving the head +forward in a straight line. The women then joined in, forming +at a short distance behind the men, and imitating all their movements. +A horrible noise arose; this was intended for a song, the singers at +the same time distorting their features frightfully. One of them +performed on a kind of stringed instrument, made out of the stem of +a <!-- page 50--><a name="page50"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 50</span>cabbage-palm, +and about two feet, or two feet and a half, in length. A hole +was cut in it slantwise, and six fibres of the stem were kept up in +an elevated position at each end, by means of a small bridge. +The fingers played upon these as upon a guitar, drawing forth a very +low, harsh, and disagreeable tone. The dance, thus pleasingly +accompanied, was called the Dance of Peace and Joy.</p> +<p>A wilder measure was next undertaken by the men alone. They +first equipped themselves with bows, arrows, and stout clubs; then they +formed a circle, indulged in the most rapid and fantastic movements, +and brandished their clubs as if dealing death to a hundred foes. +Suddenly they broke their ranks, strung their bows, placed their arrows +ready, and represented all the evolutions of shooting after a flying +foe, giving utterance to the most piercing cries, which resounded through +the forest-glades. Madame Pfeiffer, believing that she was really +surrounded by enemies, started up in terror, and was heartily glad when +the dance ended.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page51.jpg"> +<img alt="Cape Horn" src="images/page51.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>From Rio Janeiro Madame Pfeiffer sailed in an English ship, the <i>John +Renwick</i>, on the 9th of December, bound for Valparaiso in Chili. +She kept to the south, touching at Santos, where the voyagers <!-- page 53--><a name="page53"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 53</span>celebrated +New-Year’s Day, and reaching the mouth of the Rio Plata on the +11th of January. In these latitudes the Southern Cross is the +most conspicuous object in the heavens. It consists of four stars +of much brilliancy, arranged in two diagonal rows. Late in the +month the voyagers sighted the sterile shores and barren mountains of +Patagonia, and next the volcanic rocks, wave-worn and wind-worn, of +Tierra del Fuego. Through the Strait of Le Maire, which separates +the latter from Staten Island, they sailed onward to the extreme southern +point of the American continent, the famous promontory of Cape Horn. +It is the termination of the mighty mountain-chain of the Andes, and +is formed of a mass of colossal basaltic rocks, thrown together in wild +disorder, as by a Titan’s hand.</p> +<p>Rounding Cape Horn they encountered a violent gale, which lasted +for several days; and soon discovered, like other voyagers, how little +the great southern ocean deserves its name of the Pacific. But +they reached Valparaiso in safety. Its appearance, however, did +not very favourably impress Madame Ida Pfeiffer. It is laid out +in two long streets at the foot of dreary hills, these hills consisting +of a pile of rocks covered with thin strata of earth and <!-- page 54--><a name="page54"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 54</span>sand. +Some of them are covered with houses; on one of them is the churchyard; +the others are bare and solitary. The two chief streets are broad, +and much frequented, especially by horsemen; for every Chilian is born +a horseman, and is usually mounted on a steed worthy of a good rider.</p> +<p>Valparaiso houses are European in style, with flat Italian roofs. +Broad steps lead up into a lofty entrance-hall on the first floor, from +which, through large glass doors, the visitor passes into the drawing-room +and other apartments. The drawing-room is the pride not only of +every European settler, but of every native Chilian. The foot +sinks into heavy and costly carpets; the walls are emblazoned with rich +tapestry; the furniture and mirrors are of European make, and sumptuous +in the extreme; and every table presents the evidence of refined taste +in gorgeous albums, adorned with the choicest engravings.</p> +<p>As to the lower classes of the population, if we would obtain an +idea of their manners and customs, we must stroll on a fête-day +into one of their eating-houses.</p> +<p>In one corner, on the ground, crackles a tremendous fire, surrounded +by innumerable pots and pans, <!-- page 55--><a name="page55"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 55</span>between +which are wooden spits with beef and pork, simmering and roasting with +appetizing savour. A rude wooden frame-work, with a long broad +plank on it, occupies the middle of the room, and is covered with a +cloth, the original colour of which it is impossible to determine. +This is the guest-table. The dinner is served up in the most primitive +fashion imaginable, all the viands being heaped up in one dish; beans +and rice, potatoes and roast beef, onions and paradise apples, forming +a curious medley. The appetites of the guests are keen, and no +time is wasted in talking. At the end of the repast, a goblet +of wine or water passes from hand to hand; after which every tongue +is loosened. In the evening a guitar strikes up, and dancing becomes +general.</p> +<p>A singular custom prevails among the Chilians on the death of a little +child. This incident, in most European families, is attended by +much sorrow: the Chilian parents make it the occasion of a great festival. +The deceased <i>angelito</i>, or little angel, is adorned in various +ways. Its eyes, instead of being closed, are opened as wide as +possible; its cheeks are painted red; then the cold rigid corpse is +dressed in the finest clothes, crowned with flowers, and set up in a +little chair in a flower-garlanded niche. <!-- page 56--><a name="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 56</span>The +relatives and neighbours flock in, to wish the parents joy on the possession +of such an angel; and, during the first night, they all indulge in the +most extravagant dances, and feast with sounds of wildest merriment +before the <i>angelito</i>.</p> +<p>Madame Pfeiffer heard from a merchant the following story:—A +grave-digger, on his way to the churchyard with one of these deceased +angelitos, tarried at a tavern to refresh himself with a cup of wine. +The landlord inquired what he was carrying under his cloak, and on learning +that it was an angelito, offered him a shilling for it. A bargain +was soon struck; the landlord quickly fitted up a flowery niche in the +drinking-saloon, and then took care that his neighbours should know +what a treasure he had acquired. They came; they admired the angelito; +they drank copiously in its honour. But the parents hearing of +the affair, interfered, carried away their dead child, and summoned +the landlord before the magistrate. The latter gravely heard the +pleadings on both sides, and as no such case was mentioned in the statute-book, +arranged it amicably, to the satisfaction of both parties.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page57.jpg"> +<img alt="Scene in Tahiti" src="images/page57.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>Wearying of Valparaiso, our restless and adventurous <!-- page 59--><a name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 59</span>traveller, +who was bent upon accomplishing a voyage round the world, took her passage +for China in the Dutch barque <i>Lootpurt</i>, Captain Van Wyk Jurianse.</p> +<p>They sailed from Valparaiso on the 18th of March, and on the 26th +of April came in sight of that gem of the South Seas, Tahiti, the Otaheite +of Captain Cook, and the largest and most beautiful of the Society group. +From the days of Bougainville, its discoverer, down to those of “the +Earl and the Doctor,” who recently published a narrative of their +visit, it has been the theme of admiration for the charms of its scenery. +It lifts its lofty summit out of a wealth of luxuriant vegetation, which +descends to the very margin of a sea as blue as the sky above it. +Cool green valleys penetrate into its mountain-recesses, and their slopes +are loaded with groves of bread-fruit and cocoa-nut trees. The +inhabitants, physically speaking, are not unworthy of their island-Eden; +they are a tall, robust, and well-knit race, and would be comely but +for their custom of flattening the nose as soon as the child is born. +They have fine dark eyes, and thick jet-black hair. The colour +of their skin is a copper-brown. Both sexes are tattooed, generally +from the hips half down the <!-- page 60--><a name="page60"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 60</span>legs, +and frequently over the hands, feet, and other parts of the body; the +devices being often very fanciful in design, and always artistically +executed.</p> +<p>The women of Tahiti have always been notorious for their immodesty, +and the island, notwithstanding the labours of zealous missionaries, +continues to be the Polynesian Paphos. The French protectorate +from which it suffers has not raised the moral standard of the population.</p> +<p>Madame Pfeiffer undertook an excursion to the Lake Vaihiria, assuming +for the nonce a semi-masculine attire, which any less strong-minded +and adventurous woman would probably have refused. She wore, she +tells us, strong men’s shoes, trousers, and a blouse, which was +fastened high up about the hips. Thus equipped, she started off +with her guide, crossing about two-and-thirty brooks before they entered +the ravines leading into the interior of the island.</p> +<p>She noticed that as they advanced the fruit-trees disappeared, and +instead, the slopes were covered with plantains, taros, and marantas; +the last attaining a height of twelve feet, and growing so luxuriantly +that it is with some difficulty the traveller makes his way through +the tangle. The taro, which <!-- page 61--><a name="page61"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 61</span>is +carefully cultivated, averages two or three feet high, and has fine +large leaves and tubers like those of the potato, but not so good when +roasted. There is much gracefulness in the appearance of the plantain, +or banana, which varies from twelve to fifteen feet in height, and has +leaves like those of the palm, but a brittle reed-like stem, about eight +inches in diameter. It attains its full growth in the first year, +bears fruit in the second, and then dies. Thus its life is as +brief as it is useful.</p> +<p>Through one bright mountain-stream, which swept along the ravine +over a stony bed, breaking up into eddies and tiny whirlpools, and in +some places attaining a depth of three feet, Madame Pfeiffer and her +guide waded or half-swam two-and-sixty times. The resolute spirit +of the woman, however, never failed her; and though the path at every +step became more difficult and dangerous, she persisted in pressing +forward. She clambered over rocks and stones; she forced her way +through inter-tangled bushes; and though severely wounded in her hands +and feet, never hesitated for a moment. In two places the ravine +narrowed so considerably that the entire space was filled by the brawling +torrent. It was here that the islanders, during <!-- page 62--><a name="page62"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 62</span>their +struggle against French occupation, threw up stone walls five feet in +height, as a barrier against the enemy.</p> +<p>In eight hours the bold traveller and her guide had walked, waded, +and clambered fully eighteen miles, and had attained an elevation of +eighteen hundred feet. The lake itself was not visible until they +stood upon its shores, as it lies bosomed in a deep hollow, among lofty +and precipitous mountains which descend with startling abruptness to +the very brink of its dark, deep waters. To cross the lake it +is necessary to put one’s trust in one’s swimming powers, +or in a curiously frail kind of boat, which the natives prepare with +equal rapidity and skill. Madame Pfeiffer, however, was nothing +if not adventurous. Whatever there was to be dared, she immediately +dared. At her request, the guide made the usual essay at boat-building. +He tore off some plantain branches, bound them together with long tough +grass, laid a few leaves upon them, launched them in the water, and +requested Madame Pfeiffer to embark. She confesses to having felt +a little hesitation, but without saying a word, she stepped on board. +Then her guide took to the water like a duck, and pushed her forward. +The passage <!-- page 63--><a name="page63"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 63</span>across +the lake, and back again, was in this way accomplished without any accident.</p> +<p>Having satiated herself with admiring the lake and its surrounding +scenery, she retired to a little nook roofed over with leaves, where +her guide quickly kindled a good fire in the usual Indian fashion. +He cut a small piece of wood to a fine point, and then selecting a second +piece, grooved it with a narrow and not very deep furrow. In this +he rubbed the pointed stick until the fragments detached during the +process began to smoke. These he flung into a heap of dry leaves +and grass previously collected, and swung the whole several times round +in the air, until it broke out into flames. The entire process +did not occupy above two minutes. Gathering a few plantains, these +were roasted for supper; after which Madame Pfeiffer withdrew to her +solitary couch of dry leaves, to sleep as best she might. It is +impossible not to wonder at the marvellous physical capability of this +adventurous woman, no less than at her courage, her resolution, and +her perseverance. How many of her sex could bear for a week the +fatigue and exposure to which she subjected herself year after year?</p> +<p><!-- page 64--><a name="page64"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 64</span>The +next morning she accomplished the return journey in safety.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page65.jpg"> +<img alt="Hong-Kong" src="images/page65.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>On the 17th of May she left Tahiti, the Dutch vessel in which she +had embarked being bound via the Philippines. They passed this +rich and radiant group of islands on the 1st of July, and the next day +entered the dangerous China Sea. A few days afterwards they reached +Hong-Kong, which has been an English settlement since 1842. Here +Madame Pfeiffer made no long stay, for she desired to see China and +the Chinese with as little intermixture of the European element as possible. +So she ascended the Pearl river, the banks of which are covered with +immense plantations of rice, and studded with quaint little country-houses, +of the genuine Chinese pattern, with sloping, pointed roofs, and mosaics +of variously coloured tiles, to Canton, one of the great commercial +centres of the Flowery Land. As she approached she surveyed with +wonder the animated scene before her. The river was crowded with +ships and inhabited boats. Junks there were, almost as large as +the old Spanish galleons, with poops impending far over the water, and +covered in with a roof, like a house. Men-of-war <!-- page 67--><a name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 67</span>there +were, flat, broad, and long, mounted with twenty or thirty guns, and +adorned in the usual Chinese fashion, with two large painted eyes at +the prow, that they may be the better able to find their way. +Mandarins’ boats she saw, with doors, and sides, and windows gaily +painted, with carved galleries, and tiny silken flags fluttering from +every point. And flower-boats she also saw; their upper galleries +decked with flowers, garlands, and arabesques, as if these were barks +fitted out for the service of Titania and her fairy company. The +interior is divided into one large apartment and a few cabinets, which +are lighted by windows of fantastic design. Mirrors and silk hangings +embellish the walls, while the enchanting scene is completed with an +ample garniture of glass chandeliers and coloured paper lanterns, interspersed +with lovely little baskets of fresh flowers.</p> +<p>It is not necessary to attempt a description of Canton, with its +pagodas, houses, shops, and European factories. Let us direct +our attention to the manners, customs, and peculiarities of its inhabitants. +As to dress and appearance, the costume of both sexes, among the lower +orders, consists of full trousers and long upper garments, and is <!-- page 68--><a name="page68"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 68</span>chiefly +remarkable for its “excessive filth.” Baths and ablutions +have no charm for the Chinaman; he scorns to wear a shirt, and he holds +by his trousers until they drop from his body. The men’s +upper garments reach a little below the knee, the women’s about +half way down the calf. They are made of nankeen, or dark blue, +brown, or black silk. During the cold season both men and women +wear one summer garment over the other, keeping the whole together with +a girdle; in the extreme heat, however, they suffer them to float as +free as “Nora Creina’s robes” in Moore’s pretty +ballad.</p> +<p>The men keep their heads shaved, with the exception of a small patch +at the back, where the hair is carefully cultivated and plaited into +a cue. The thicker and longer this cue is, the prouder is its +owner; false hair and black ribbon, therefore, are all deftly worked +into it, with the result of forming an appendage which often reaches +down to the ankles! While at work the owner twists it round his +neck, but on entering a room he lets it down again, as it would be contrary +to all the laws of etiquette and courtesy for a person to make his appearance +with his cue twisted up. The women comb their hair entirely back +from their forehead, <!-- page 69--><a name="page69"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 69</span>and +fasten it to the head in the most artistic plaits. The process +occupies a considerable time, but when the hair is once dressed it is +not retouched for a whole week. Both men and women frequently +go about with heads uncovered; but sometimes they wear hats of thin +bamboo, three feet in diameter. These are not only an adequate +protection against sun and rain, but are exceedingly durable.</p> +<p>Large numbers of Chinese live a kind of aquatic life, and make their +home on board a river-boat. The husband goes on shore to his work, +and his wife meantime adds to the income of the family by ferrying persons +from bank to bank, or letting out the boat to pleasure parties—always +reserving one half of its accommodation for herself and household. +Room is not very abundant, as the whole boat does not exceed twenty-five +feet in length; but everywhere the greatest order and cleanliness are +apparent, each separate plank being enthusiastically scrubbed and washed +every morning. It is worth notice how each inch of space is turned +to the best advantage, room being made even for the <i>lares</i> and +<i>penates</i>. All the washing and cooking are done during the +day; yet the pleasure party is never in the least degree inconvenienced.</p> +<p><!-- page 70--><a name="page70"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 70</span>Of +course our traveller was attracted by the diminutiveness of the feet +of the Chinese women, and she had an opportunity of examining one of +these tiny monstrosities <i>in naturâ</i>. Four of the toes +were bent under the sole of the foot, to which they were firmly pressed, +and simultaneously with which they appeared to have grown, if growth +it can be called; the great toe alone remained in its natural state. +The fore part of the foot had been so swathed and compressed by tight +bandages, that, instead of expanding in length and breadth, it had shot +upwards, so as to form a large lump at the instep, where it became, +so to speak, a portion of the leg; the lower part of the foot was scarcely +five inches long, and an inch and a half broad. The feet are always +encased in white linen or silk, with silk bandages over all, and are +then stuffed into pretty little shoes with very high heels. “To +my astonishment,” says Madame Pfeiffer, “these deformed +beings tripped about, as if in defiance of us broad-footed creatures, +with tolerable ease, the only difference in their gait being that they +waddled like geese; they even ran up and down stairs without a stick.” +She adds, that the value of a bride is reckoned by the smallness of +her feet.</p> +<p><!-- page 71--><a name="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 71</span>It +was characteristic of Madame Pfeiffer that she found means to see much +which no European woman had ever seen before. She obtained access +even to a Buddhist temple,—that of Houan, reputed to be one of +the finest in China. The sacred enclosure is surrounded by a high +wall. The visitor enters first a large outer court, at the extremity +of which a huge gateway opens upon an inner court. Beneath the +arch stand two statues of war-gods, each eighteen feet high, with terribly +distorted faces and the most menacing attitudes; these are supposed +to prevent the approach of evil genii. A second portal, of similar +construction, under which are placed the “four heavenly kings,” +leads to a third court, surrounding the principal temple, a structure +one hundred feet in length, and of equal breadth. On rows of wooden +pillars is supported a flat roof, from which glass lamps, lustres, artificial +flowers, and brightly-coloured ribbons hang suspended. All about +the area are scattered statues, altars, vases of flowers, censers, candelabra, +and other accessories.</p> +<p>But the eye is chiefly attracted by the three altars in the foreground, +with the three coloured statues behind them, of Buddha, seated, as emblematic +of Past, Present, and Future. On the occasion <!-- page 72--><a name="page72"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 72</span>of +Madame Pfeiffer’s visit a service was being performed,—a +funeral ceremony in honour of a mandarin’s deceased wife, and +at his expense. Before the altars on the right and left stood +several priests, in garments strangely resembling, as did the ceremonial +observances, those of the Roman Church. The mandarin himself, +attended by two servants armed with large fans, prayed before the central +altar. He kissed the ground repeatedly, and each time he did so +three sweet-scented wax-tapers were put into his hand. After raising +them in the air, he handed them to the priests, who then stationed them, +unlighted, before the Buddha images. Meantime, the temple resounded +with the blended strains of three musicians, one of whom struck a metal +ball, the other scraped a stringed instrument, and the third educed +shrill notes from a kind of flute.</p> +<p>This principal temple is surrounded by numerous smaller sanctuaries, +each decorated with images of deities, rudely wrought, but glowing with +gilt and vivid colours. Special reverence seems to be accorded +to Kwanfootse, a demigod of War, and the four-and-twenty gods of Mercy. +These latter have four, six, and even eight arms. In the Temple +of Mercy Madame Pfeiffer met with an unpleasant <!-- page 73--><a name="page73"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 73</span>adventure. +A Bonze had offered her and her companions a couple of wax tapers to +light in honour of the god. They were on the point of complying, +as a matter of civility, when an American missionary, who made one of +the party, snatched them roughly from their hands, and gave them back +to the priests, protesting that such compliance was idolatrous. +The Bonze, in high indignation, closed the door, and summoned his brethren, +who hurried in from all sides, and jostled and pushed and pressed, while +using the most violent language. It was not without difficulty +they forced their way through the crowd, and escaped from the temple.</p> +<p>The guide next led the curiosity-hunters to the so-called House of +the Sacred Swine. The greatest attention is paid to these porcine +treasures, and they reside in a spacious stone hall; but not the less +is the atmosphere heavy with odours that are not exactly those of Araby +the Blest. Throughout their sluggish existence the swine are carefully +fed and cherished, and no cruel knife cuts short the thread of their +destiny. At the time of Madame Pfeiffer’s visit only one +pair were enjoying their <i>otium cum dignitate</i>, and the number +rarely exceeds three pairs.</p> +<p><!-- page 74--><a name="page74"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 74</span>Peeping +into the interior of a Bonze’s house, the company came upon an +opium-smoker. He lay stretched upon a mat, with small tea-cups +beside him, some fruit, a tiny lamp, and several miniature-headed pipes, +from one of which he was inhaling the intoxicating smoke. It is +said that some of the Chinese opium-smokers consume as much as twenty +or thirty grains daily. This poor wretch was not wholly unconscious +of the presence of visitors; and, laying by his pipe, he raised himself +from the ground, and dragged his body to a chair. With deadly +pale face and fixed, staring eyes, he presented a miserable appearance.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>Our traveller also visited a pagoda,—the Half-Way Pagoda; so +called by the English because it is situated half-way between Canton +and Whampoa. On a small hillock, in the midst of vast tracts of +rice, it raises its nine stories to a height of one hundred and seventy +feet. Though formerly of great repute, it is now deserted. +The interior has been stripped of statues and ornaments, and the floors +having been removed, the visitor sees to the very summit. Externally, +each stage is indicated by a small balcony without railing, access being +<!-- page 75--><a name="page75"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 75</span>obtained +by steep and narrow flights of stairs. A picturesque effect is +produced by these projections, as everybody knows who has examined a +“willow-pattern” plate. They are built of coloured +bricks, which are laid in rows, with their points jutting obliquely +outwards, and faced with variegated tiles.</p> +<p>Even more interesting was Madame Pfeiffer’s peep into the “domestic +interior” of Mandarin Howqua.</p> +<p>The house was of large size, but only one story high, with wide and +splendid terraces. The windows looked into the inner courts. +At the entrance were two painted images of gods to ward off evil spirits, +like the horse-shoe formerly suspended to the cottages and barns of +our English peasants.</p> +<p>The front part was divided into several reception rooms, without +front walls; and adjoining these, bloomed bright and gaily-ordered parterres +of flowers and shrubs. The magnificent terraces above also bloomed +with blossom, and commanded a lively view of the crowded river, and +of the fine scenery that spreads around Canton. Elegant little +cabinets surrounded these rooms, being separated by thin partitions, +through which the eye could easily <!-- page 76--><a name="page76"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 76</span>penetrate, +and frequently embellished with gay and skilfully-executed paintings. +The material used was chiefly bamboo, which was as delicate as gauze, +and copiously decorated with painted flowers or beautifully-written +proverbs.</p> +<p>The chairs and sofas were numerous, and of really artistic workmanship. +Some of the arm-chairs were cunningly wrought out of a single piece +of wood. The seats of others were beautiful marble slabs; of others, +again, fine coloured tiles or porcelain. Articles of European +manufacture, such as handsome mirrors, clocks, vases, and tables of +Florentine mosaic or variegated marble, were plentiful. There +was also a remarkable collection of lamps and lanterns pendent from +the ceilings, consisting—these lamps and lanterns—of glass, +transparent horn, and coloured gauze or paper, ornamented with glass +beads, fringe, and tassels. And as the walls were also largely +supplied with lamps, the apartments, when lighted up, assumed a truly +fairy-like character.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page77.jpg"> +<img alt="Chinese House and Garden" src="images/page77.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>The mandarin’s pleasure-garden stretched along the river-side. +Its cultivation was perfect, but no taste was shown in its arrangement. +Wherever the visitor turned, kiosks, summer-houses, and <!-- page 79--><a name="page79"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 79</span>bridges +confronted her. Every path and open spot were lined with large +and small flower-pots, in which grew flowers and liliputian fruit-trees +of all kinds. In the art of dwarfing trees, if such distortion +and crippling of Nature deserves to be called an art, the Chinese are +certainly most accomplished experts; but what can we think of the taste, +or want of taste, which prefers pigmies three feet high to the lofty +and far-shadowing trees which embellish our English parks and gardens? +Why should a civilized people put Nature in fetters, and delight in +checking her growth, in limiting her spontaneous energies?</p> +<p>Here are some particulars about the tea-plant:—In the plantations +around Canton, it is not allowed to grow higher than six feet, and is +consequently cut at intervals. Its leaves are considered good +from the third to the eighth year; and the plant is then cut down, in +order that it may throw off new shoots, or else it is rooted out. +Three gatherings take place in the year; the first in March, the second +in April, and the third, which lasts for three months, in May. +So fine and delicate are the leaves of the first gathering, that they +might easily be mistaken for the blossom; which undoubtedly has <!-- page 80--><a name="page80"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 80</span>originated +the error that the so-called “bloom or imperial tea” consists +of the flowers and not of the leaves of the plant.</p> +<p>When gathered, the leaves are thrown for a few seconds into boiling +water, and then placed on flat iron plates, inserted slantwise in stone-work. +While roasting over a gentle fire, they are continually stirred. +As soon as they begin to curl a little, they are scattered over large +planks, and each single leaf is rolled together; a process so rapidly +accomplished that it requires a person’s sole attention to detect +that only one leaf is rolled up at a time. This completed, all +the leaves are again placed in the pans. Black tea takes some +time to roast; and the green is frequently coloured with Prussian blue, +an exceedingly small quantity of which is added during the second roasting. +Last of all, the tea is once more shaken out upon the boards, and submitted +to a careful inspection, the leaves that are not entirely closed being +rolled over again.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page81.jpg"> +<img alt="Singapore" src="images/page81.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Madame Pfeiffer had an opportunity of tasting a cup of tea made after +the most approved Chinese fashion. A small quantity was dropped +into a delicate porcelain cup, boiling water was poured upon it, and +a tightly-fitting cover then adjusted to <!-- page 83--><a name="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 83</span>the +cup. After a few seconds, the infusion was ready for drinking—neither +milk, cream, nor sugar being added.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>But we must tarry no longer within the borders of the Celestial Empire. +We have to follow Madame Pfeiffer in her wanderings over many seas and +through many countries,—for in the course of her adventurous career +she saw more of “men and cities” than even the much-travelling +Ulysses,—and our limits confine us to brief notices of the most +remarkable places she visited.</p> +<p>From China she sailed for the East Indies.</p> +<p>On her way she “looked in” at Singapore, a British settlement, +where gather the traders of many Asiatic nations. The scenery +which stretches around it is of a rich and agreeable character, and +the island on which it is situated excels in fertility of vegetation. +A saunter among the plantations of cloves and nutmegs is very pleasant, +the air breathing a peculiar balsamic fragrance. The nutmeg-tree +is about the size of a good apricot-bush, and from top to bottom is +a mass of foliage; the branches grow very low down the stem, and the +leaves glitter as if they were varnished. The fruit closely <!-- page 84--><a name="page84"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 84</span>resembles +an apricot, covered with spots of yellowish-brown. It bursts on +attaining maturity, and then reveals a round kernel, of the size of +a nut, embedded in a network, sold as mace, of a beautiful red colour. +This network of fibrous material is carefully separated from the nutmeg, +and dried in the shade,—being frequently sprinkled with sea-water, +to prevent the colour deepening into black, instead of changing into +yellow. The nutmeg is likewise dried, exposed a while to the action +of smoke, and dipped several times into sea-water containing a weak +solution of lime, to prevent it from turning mouldy.</p> +<p>The clove-tree is smaller, and less copiously provided with foliage, +than the nutmeg-tree. The buds form what are known to us as cloves; +and, of course, are gathered before they have had time to blossom. +The areca-nut palm is also plentiful in Singapore. It grows in +clusters of from ten to twenty nuts; is somewhat larger than a nutmeg, +and of a bright colour, almost resembling gilt.</p> +<p>The Chinese and the natives of the Eastern Islands chew it with betel-leaf +and calcined mussel-shells. With a small quantity of the latter +they strew the leaf; a very small piece of the nut is <!-- page 85--><a name="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 85</span>added, +and the whole is made into a little packet, which they put into their +mouth.</p> +<p>Madame Pfeiffer also inspected a sago manufactory. The unprepared +farina, which is the pith of the sago palm, is imported from a neighbouring +island. The tree is cut down when it is seven years old, split +from top to bottom, and the pith extracted from it. Then it is +freed from the fibres, pressed in large frames, and dried at the fire +or in the sun. At Singapore this pith or meal, which is of a yellowish +tint, is steeped in water for several days until completely blanched; +it is then once more dried by the fire or in the sun, passed under a +large wooden roller, and through a hair sieve. When it has become +white and fine, it is placed in a kind of linen winnowing-fan, which +is kept damp in a peculiar manner. The workman takes a mouthful +of water, and “spirts it out like fine rain over the fan;” +the meal being alternately shaken and moistened until it assumes the +character of small globules. These are stirred round in large +flat pans, until they are dried. Then they are passed through +a second sieve, not quite so fine as the first, and the larger globules +are separated from the rest.</p> +<p><!-- page 86--><a name="page86"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 86</span>Pepper +and gambir plantations are also among the “sights” of Singapore. +The pepper-tree is a small bush-like plant, which, when carefully trained, +springs to a height of eighteen feet. The pepper-pods grow in +small clusters, and change from red to green, and then to black. +White pepper is nothing more than the black pepper blanched by frequent +steeping in sea-water. The gambir does not grow taller than eight +feet. The leaves, which are used in dyeing, are first stripped +from the stalk, and then boiled down in large coppers. The thick +juice is placed in white wooden vessels, and dried in the sun; then +it is divided into slips about three inches long, and packed up.</p> +<p>Singapore is an island of <i>fruits</i>. It boasts of the delicious +mangosteen, which almost melts in the mouth, and delights the palate +with its exquisite flavour. It boasts, too, of splendid pine-apples, +frequently weighing as much as four pounds. Also of sauersop, +as big as the biggest pine-apples, green outside, and white or pale +yellow inside, with a taste and fragrance like that of strawberries. +Nor must the gumaloh be forgotten: it is divided, like the orange, into +sections, but is five times as large, and not quite so sweet. +Finally, we must refer to the <!-- page 87--><a name="page87"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 87</span>custard-apple, +which is very white (though full of black pips), very soft, and very +enticing in flavour.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>From Singapore we follow Madame Pfeiffer to Point de Galle, in Ceylon. +The appearance of this fair and fertile island from the sea is the theme +of every traveller’s praise. “It was one of the most +magnificent sights I ever beheld,” says Madame Pfeiffer, “to +see the island soaring gradually from the sea, with its mountain-ranges +growing more and more distinctly defined, their summits lighted by the +sun, while the dense cocoa-groves, and hills and plains, lay shrouded +in shadow.” Above the whole towers the purple mass of Adam’s +Peak; and the eye rests in every direction on the most luxuriant foliage, +with verdurous glades, and slopes carpeted with flowers.</p> +<p>Point de Galle presents a curious mixture of races. Cingalese, +Kanditons, Tamils from South India, and Moormen, with crimson caftans +and shaven crowns, form the bulk of the crowds that throng its streets; +but, besides these, there are Portuguese, Chinese, Jews, Arabs, Parsees, +Englishmen, Malays, Dutchmen, and half-caste burghers, and now and then +a veiled Arabian woman, or a Veddah, one of the <!-- page 88--><a name="page88"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 88</span>aboriginal +inhabitants of the island. Sir Charles Dilke speaks of “silent +crowds of tall and graceful girls, wearing, as we at first supposed, +white petticoats and bodices; their hair carried off the face with a +decorated hoop, and caught at the back by a high tortoise-shell comb. +As they drew near, moustaches began to show, and I saw that they were +men; whilst walking with them were women naked to the waist, combless, +and far more rough and ‘manly’ than their husbands. +Petticoat and chignon are male institutions in Ceylon.”</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>Madame Pfeiffer, with unresting energy, visited Colombo and Kandy, +the chief towns of the island. At the latter she obtained admission +to the Temple of Dagoba, which contains a precious relic of the god +Buddha—namely, one of his teeth. The sanctuary containing +this sacred treasure is a small chamber or cell, less than twenty feet +in breadth. It is enveloped in darkness, as there are no windows; +and the door is curtained inside, for the more effectual exclusion of +the light. Rich tapestry covers the walls and ceiling. But +the chief object is the altar, which glitters with plates of silver, +and is incrusted about the edges with precious stones. Upon it +<!-- page 91--><a name="page91"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 91</span>stands +a bell-shaped case about three feet in height, and three feet in diameter +at the base. It is made of silver, elaborately gilt, and decorated +with a number of costly jewels. A peacock in the middle blazes +with jewels. Six smaller cases, reputed to be of gold, are enclosed +within the large one, and under the last is the tooth of Buddha. +As it is as large as that of a great bull, one trembles to think how +monstrous must have been the jaw of the Indian creed-founder!</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page89.jpg"> +<img alt="Native boat, Madras" src="images/page89.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>Madame Ida Pfeiffer arrived at Madras on the 30th of October. +She describes the process of disembarkation; but as her details are +few, and refer to a comparatively distant date, we propose to rely on +the narrative of a recent traveller.</p> +<p>From time immemorial, he says, the system of landing and embarking +passengers and cargo has been by means of native Massulah boats, constructed +of mango wood, calked with straw, and sewn together with cocoa-nut fibre. +The ships drop their anchors in the roads half a mile from the shore; +the Massulah boat pulls off alongside, receives its cargo at the gangway, +and is then beached through the surf. It is no uncommon circumstance +for the boat <!-- page 92--><a name="page92"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 92</span>alongside, +assisted by the rolling of the ship, to rise and fall twenty-five feet +relatively to the height of the ship’s deck at each undulation. +Ladies are lashed into chairs, and from the ship’s yard-arm lowered +into the boat. In 1860 some improvement was effected by the construction +of an iron pier, about nine hundred feet in length, and twenty feet +in height. But a spacious and sheltered harbour is now being provided, +by means of piers running out from the shore five hundred yards north +and south respectively of the screw pile pier now existing, so as to +enclose a rectangular area of one thousand yards in length by eight +hundred and thirty yards in width, or one hundred and seventy acres. +The foundation-stone was laid by the Prince of Wales in the course of +his Indian progress in 1876.</p> +<p>Madame Pfeiffer stayed but a few hours at Madras, and her notes respecting +it are of no value. We will proceed at once to Calcutta, the “City +of Palaces,” as it has been called, and the capital of our Indian +Empire.</p> +<p>She speaks of the Viceroy’s Palace as a magnificent building, +and one that would ornament any city in the world. Other noticeable +edifices are the Town Hall, the Hospital, the Museum, Ochterlony’s +<!-- page 93--><a name="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 93</span>Monument, +the Mint, and the Cathedral. Ochterlony’s Monument is a +plain stone column, one hundred and sixty-five feet high, erected in +commemoration of a sagacious statesman and an able soldier. From +its summit, to which access is obtained by two hundred and twenty-two +steps, may be obtained a noble view of the city, the broad reaches of +the Ganges, and the fertile plains of Bengal.</p> +<p>The Cathedral is an imposing pile. Its architecture is Gothic, +and the interior produces a very fine effect by the harmony of its proportions +and the richness of its details. The ill-famed “Black Hole,” +in which the Rajah Surajah Dowlah confined one hundred and fifty English +men and women, when he obtained possession of Calcutta in 1756—confining +them in a narrow and noisome cell, which poisoned them with its malarious +atmosphere, so that by morning only a few remained alive—is now +part of a warehouse. But an obelisk stands at the entrance, inscribed +with the names of the victims.</p> +<p>The fashionable promenade at Calcutta is the Maidan. It runs +along the bank of the Hooghly, and is bounded on the other side by rows +of palatial mansions. It commands a good view of the Viceroy’s +<!-- page 94--><a name="page94"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 94</span>Palace, +the Cathedral, the Ochterlony Column, the strong defensive works of +Fort William; and is altogether a very interesting and attractive spot.</p> +<p>Every evening, before sunset, thither wends the fashionable world +of Calcutta. The impassive European, with all the proud consciousness +of a conquering race; the half-Europeanized baboo; the deposed rajah,—all +may be seen driving to and fro in splendid equipages, drawn by handsome +steeds, and followed by servants in gay Oriental attire. The rajahs +and “nabobs” are usually dressed in gold-embroidered robes +of silk, over which are thrown the costliest Indian shawls. Ladies +and gentlemen, on English horses of the best blood, canter along the +road, or its turfen borders; while crowds of dusky natives gather in +all directions, or leisurely move homewards after their day’s +work. A bright feature of the scene is the animated appearance +of the Hooghly: first-class East Indiamen are lying at anchor, ships +are arriving or preparing for departure, the native craft incessantly +ply to and fro, and a Babel of voices of different nationalities rises +on the air.</p> +<p>Here is a picture of the Maidan, drawn by another lady-traveller, +Mrs. Murray Mitchell:—</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page95.jpg"> +<img alt="The Maidan, Calcutta" src="images/page95.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p><!-- page 97--><a name="page97"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 97</span>It +is, she says, a noble expanse, which, about a hundred years ago, was +a wild swampy jungle, famous only for snipe-shooting. Strange +to say, it is not, like most Indian plains, burned up and brown, but, +from its vicinity to the river, and the frequent showers that visit +it, as fresh and green as an English park. It has a few fine tanks, +and is sprinkled with some leafy trees; these, however, not so numerous +as they were before the cyclones of 1864 and 1867, which swept away +its chief natural beauties. Several broad well-kept drives intersect +it, and it is ornamented by some graceful gardens and a few handsome +columns and statues. Indeed, the Maidan is the centre of all that +is grand and imposing; the shabby and the unsightly is kept behind, +out of view. Facing it, along its eastern marge, stand the noble +pillared palaces of Chowringhee. At one end stands the handsome +new Court House; also the Town Hall, and other buildings of less pretence; +and, further on, the noble pile of Government House, with four handsome +entrance gates, and surrounded by shrubberies and gardens. In +front spread the Eden Gardens, a delightful addition to the beauties +both of Government House and the Esplanade. From this point <!-- page 98--><a name="page98"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 98</span>the +business part of Calcutta extends in a northerly direction, including +Dalhousie Square, with its many buildings, among which conspicuous stands +the domed Post Office—the vista closing gracefully with the shapely +spire of St. Andrew’s Church. At the further extremity, +nearly two miles across the verdant expanse, are seen the Cathedral, +with its noble spire, the General Hospital, and the Jail; and still +further, the richly-wooded suburbs of Kidderpore and Alipore. +Fort William fronts toward the river, and with its ramparts and buildings +forms a striking object; while the whole is bordered and “beautified” +by the broad river, with its crowd of masts and flags, its almost innumerable +boats, its landing-ghats, and all its life and motion.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page99.jpg"> +<img alt="Benares" src="images/page99.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>From Calcutta, Madame Pfeiffer proceeded to the city of temples, +the sacred city of Hinduism—Benares. She visited several +temples, but found them all agreeing in their leading details. +That of Vishnu has two towers connected by colonnades, the summits of +which are covered with gold plates. Inside are several images +of Vishnu and Siva, wreathed with flowers, and strewn over with grains +of rice and wheat. Images in metal or stone of the sacred <!-- page 101--><a name="page101"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 101</span>bull +are plentiful everywhere; and living bulls wander about freely, the +object of special care and adoration. They are free to stray where +they will, not in the temple precincts only, but also in the streets.</p> +<p>Among the other buildings, the one most worthy of notice is the Mosque +of Aurengzebe, famous on account of its two minarets, which are 150 +feet in height, and reported to be the slenderest in the world. +They resemble a couple of needles, and certainly better deserve the +name than that of Cleopatra at Alexandria. Narrow winding staircases +in the interior lead to the summit, on which a small platform, with +a balustrade about a foot high, is erected. From this vantage-point +a noble view of the city, it is said, may be obtained; but few persons, +we should think, have heads cool enough to enjoy it. With all +Madame Pfeiffer’s adventurousness, she did not essay this perilous +experiment.</p> +<p>The Observatory, constructed for the great Mohammedan emperor Akbar, +is also an object of interest. It is not furnished, like a European +observatory, with the usual astronomical instruments, telescopes, rain-gauges, +anemometers, and the like, the <!-- page 102--><a name="page102"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 102</span>handiwork +of cunning artificers in glass and metal; but everything is of stone—solid, +durable stone. On a raised terrace stand circular tables, semicircular +and quadratic curves, all of stone, and all inscribed with mystic signs +and characters.</p> +<p>Benares is celebrated for its bazaars, in which are exhibited some +of the rarest productions of the East; but its principal attraction +is its sanctity, and crowds of pilgrims resort to its temples, and cleanse +themselves of their sins by bathing in the fast-flowing Ganges. +To die at Benares is regarded as a passport to heaven; and one of the +most frequent sights is the burning of a corpse on the river-bank, with +ceremonies proportioned to the rank and wealth of the deceased—the +ashes being afterwards committed to the holy waters. Benares is +also famous for its palaces. Of these the most splendid is that +which the rajah inhabits. It was visited by Madame Pfeiffer, who +appears to have gone everywhere and seen everybody at her own sweet +will and pleasure, and she was even admitted to the rajah’s presence.</p> +<p>A handsomely-decorated boat, she says, awaited her and her fellow-traveller +at the bank of the river. They crossed; a palanquin was ready +to <!-- page 103--><a name="page103"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 103</span>receive +them. Soon they arrived at the stately gateway which forms the +entrance to the palace. The interior proved to be a labyrinth +of irregular courts and small unsymmetrical chambers. In one of +the courts a hall, surrounded by plain columns, served as a reception-room. +This was cumbrously loaded with lamps, glass lustres, and European furniture; +on the walls hung some wretched pictures, framed and glazed. Presently +the rajah made his appearance, accompanied by his brother, and attended +by a long train of courtiers. The two princes were gorgeously +attired; they wore wide trousers, long under and short over garments, +all of satin, covered with gold embroidery. The rajah himself, +aged thirty-five, wore short silken cuffs, glowing with gold, and trimmed +with diamonds; several large brilliants shone on his fingers, and rich +gold embroidery was woven about his shoes. His brother, a youth +of nineteen, wore a white turban, with a costly clasp of diamonds and +pearls. Large pearls hung from his ears; rich massive bracelets +clasped his wrists.</p> +<p>The guests having taken their seats, a large silver basin was brought +in, with elaborately-wrought narghillies, and they were invited to smoke. +This <!-- page 104--><a name="page104"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 104</span>honour +they declined. The rajah then smoked in solitary dignity—his +pipe being changed as soon as he had taken a few whiffs.</p> +<p>A nautchni, or dance by nautches, was next provided for the visitors’ +entertainment. There were three musicians and two dancers. +The latter were dressed in gay gold-woven muslin robes, with wide silk +gold-broidered trousers, reaching to the ground, and quite covering +their bare feet. One of the musicians beat a couple of small drums; +the others played on four-stringed instruments not unlike a violin. +They stood close behind the dancers, and their music was wholly innocent +of melody or harmony; but to the rhythm, which was strongly accentuated, +the dancers moved their arms, hands, and fingers in a very animated +manner, and at intervals their feet, so as to ring the numerous tiny +bells that cover them. Their attitudes were not ungraceful. +The performance lasted a quarter of an hour, after which they accompanied +the dance with what was intended for singing, but sounded like shrieking. +Meantime, sweetmeats, fruits, and sherbet were handed round.</p> +<p>As a contrast to this gay scene, Madame Pfeiffer describes the performance +of the wretched fanatics <!-- page 105--><a name="page105"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 105</span>called +fakeers. These men inflict upon themselves the most extraordinary +tortures. Thus: they stick an iron hook through their flesh, and +allow themselves to be suspended by it at a height of twenty or five-and-twenty +feet. <a name="citation105"></a><a href="#footnote105">{105}</a> +Or for long hours they stand upon one foot in the burning sunshine, +with their arms rigidly extended in the air. Or they hold heavy +weights in various positions, swing round and round for hours together, +and tear the flesh from their bodies with red-hot pincers. Madame +Pfeiffer saw two of these unfortunate victims of a diseased imagination. +One held a heavy axe over his head, in the attitude of a workman bent +on felling a tree; in this position he stood, rigid as a statue. +The other held the point of his toe to his nose.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>In her tour through India our traveller passed through Allahabad, +situated at the junction of the Jumna and the Ganges, and the resort +of many pilgrims; Agra, where she admired, as so many travellers have +admired, the lovely Taj-Mahal, erected by the Sultan Jehan in memory +of his favourite <!-- page 106--><a name="page106"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 106</span>wife,—and +the Pearl Mosque, with its exquisitely delicate carving; Delhi, the +ancient capital of the Moguls, which figured so conspicuously in the +history of the Sepoy rebellion; the cave-temples of Ajunta and Ellora; +and the great commercial emporium of Bombay.</p> +<p>Quitting the confines of British India, Madame Pfeiffer, ever in +quest of the new and strange, sailed to Bassora, and ascended the historic +Tigris, so named from the swiftness of its course, to Bagdad, that quaint, +remote Oriental city, which is associated with so many wonderful legends +and not less wonderful “travellers’ tales.” +This was of old the residence of the great caliph, Haroun-al-Raschid, +a ruler of no ordinary sagacity, and the hero of many a tradition, whom +“The Thousand and One Nights” have made familiar to every +English boy. It is still a populous and wealthy city; many of +its houses are surrounded by blooming gardens; its shops are gay with +the products of the Eastern loom; and it descends in terraces to the +bank of the river, which flows in the shade of orchards and groves of +palm. Over all extends the arch of a glowing sky.</p> +<p>From Bagdad an excursion to the ruins of Babylon is natural enough. +They consist of massive <!-- page 109--><a name="page109"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 109</span>fragments +of walls and columns, strewn on either side of the Euphrates.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page107.jpg"> +<img alt="Cave temple at Ellora" src="images/page107.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>On the 17th of June our heroic traveller joined a caravan which was +bound for Mosul, a distance of three hundred miles, occupying from twelve +to fourteen days. The journey is one of much difficulty and no +little danger, across a desert country of the most lifeless character. +We shall relate a few of Madame Pfeiffer’s experiences.</p> +<p>One day she repaired to a small village in search of food. +After wandering from hut to hut, she obtained a small quantity of milk +and three eggs. She laid the eggs in hot ashes, and covered them +over; filled her leathern flask from the Tigris; and, thus loaded, returned +to the encampment formed by the caravan. She ate her eggs and +drank her milk with an appetite for which an epicure would be thankful.</p> +<p>The mode of making butter in vogue at this village was very peculiar. +The cream was put into a leathern bottle, and shaken about on the ground +until the butter consolidated. It was then put into another bottle +filled with water, and finally turned out as white as snow.</p> +<p>Next day, when they rested during the heat, the <!-- page 110--><a name="page110"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 110</span>guide +of the caravan endeavoured to procure her a little shelter from the +glare of the pitiless sun by laying a small cover over a couple of poles +stuck into the ground. But the place shaded was so small, and +the tent so frail, that she was compelled to sit quietly in one position, +as the slightest movement would have involved it in ruin. Shortly +afterwards, when she wished for some refreshment, nothing could be procured +but lukewarm water, bread so hard that it could not be eaten until thoroughly +soaked, and a cucumber without salt or vinegar.</p> +<p>At a village near Kerka the caravan tarried for two days. On +the first day Madame Pfeiffer’s patience was sorely tried. +All the women of the place flocked to examine the stranger. First +they inspected her clothes, then wanted to take the turban off her head; +and, in fact, proved themselves most troublesome intruders. At +last Madame Pfeiffer seized one of them by the arm, and turned her out +of her tent so quickly that she had no time to think of resistance. +By the eloquence of gesture our traveller made the others understand +that, unless they withdrew at once, a similarly abrupt dismissal awaited +them. She then drew a circle round her <!-- page 111--><a name="page111"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 111</span>tent, +and forbade them to cross it; an injunction which was strictly respected.</p> +<p>She had now only to settle with the wife of her guide, who had besieged +her the whole day, pressing as near as possible, and petitioning for +some of her “things.” Fortunately her husband came +on the scene, and to him Madame Pfeiffer preferred her complaint, threatening +to leave his house and seek shelter elsewhere,—well knowing that +the Arabs consider this a great disgrace. He immediately ordered +his wife to desist, and the traveller was at peace. “I always +succeeded,” says Madame Pfeiffer, “in obtaining my own will. +I found that energy and boldness influence all people, whether Arabs, +Persians, Bedaween, or others.” But for this strong will, +this indomitable resolution, Madame Pfeiffer assuredly could not have +succeeded in the enterprises she so daringly undertook. Even for +a man to have accomplished them would have earned our praise; what shall +we not say when they were conceived and carried out by a woman?</p> +<p>Towards evening, she says, to her great delight a caldron of mutton +was set on the fire. For eight days she had eaten nothing but +bread, cucumbers, and some dates; and therefore had a great <!-- page 112--><a name="page112"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 112</span>desire +for a hot and more nutritious meal. But her appetite was greatly +diminished when she saw their style of cookery. The old woman +(her guide’s mother) threw several handfuls of small grain, and +a large quantity of onions, into a panful of water to soften. +In about half an hour she thrust her dirty hands into the water, and +mixed the whole together, now and then taking a mouthful, and after +chewing it, spitting it back again into the pan. Then she took +a dirty rag, strained through it the delicate mixture, and poured it +over the meat in the larger vessel. Madame Pfeiffer had firmly +resolved not to touch the dish, but when it was ready her longing for +food was so great, and so savoury was the smell, that she reflected +that what she had already eaten was probably not a whit cleaner; in +short, for once she proved false to her resolution. Eating, she +was filled; and the viands gave her increased strength.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>On the 28th of June the caravan reached Erbil, the ancient Arbela, +where Alexander the Great defeated Darius and his Persian host. +Next day they crossed a broad river, on rafts of inflated skins, fastened +together with poles, and covered with reeds, canes, and plank. +Rapidly traversing the shrubless, <!-- page 113--><a name="page113"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 113</span>herbless +plains of Mesopotamia, they reached at length the town of Mosul, the +point from which travellers proceed to visit the ruins of Nineveh.</p> +<p>These have been so carefully explored and ably described by Layard +and the late George Smith, that it is needless to quote Madame Ida Pfeiffer’s +superficial observations at any length. According to Strabo, Nineveh +was the greatest city in the Old World—larger even than Babylon; +the circumference of its walls was a three days’ journey, and +those walls were defended by fifteen hundred towers. Now all is +covered with earth, and the ranges of hills and mounds that stretch +across the wide gray plain on the bank of the Tigris do but cover the +ruins of the vast Assyrian capital. Mr. Layard began his excavations +in 1846, and his labourers, digging deep into the hills, soon opened +up spacious and stately apartments, the marble walls of which were embellished +from top to bottom with sculptures, revealing a complete panorama of +Assyrian life! Kings with their crowns and sceptres, gods swooping +on broad pinions, warriors equipped with their arms and shields, were +there; also stirring representations of battles and hunting expeditions, +of the storming of fortresses, of triumphal processions; though, <!-- page 114--><a name="page114"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 114</span>unfortunately +for artistic effect, neither proportion, perspective, nor correct drawing +had been observed. The hills are scarcely three times higher than +the men; the fields reach to the clouds; the trees are no taller than +the lotus-flowers; and the heads of men and animals are all alike, and +all in profile. Intermingled with these scenes of ancient civilization +are inscriptions of great interest, in the cuneiform or wedge-shaped +character.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>A caravan starting from Mosul for Tabreez, Madame Ida Pfeiffer determined +on joining it, though warned that it would traverse a country containing +not a single European. But, as we have already had abundant evidence, +Madame Pfeiffer knew not what fear was. Nothing could daunt her +fixed purpose. She had made up her mind to go to Persia; and to +Persia she would go. She started with the caravan on the 8th of +July, and next day crossed the hills that intervene between Mesopotamia +and Kurdistan. The latter country has never enjoyed a good reputation +among travellers; and Madame Pfeiffer’s experience was not calculated +to retrieve its character. The caravan was crossing a corn-field +which had been recently reaped, when half-a-dozen stalwart <!-- page 115--><a name="page115"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 115</span>Kurds, +armed with stout cudgels, sprang out from their hiding-place among the +sheaves, and seizing the travellers’ bridles, poured out upon +them what was unmistakably a volley of oaths and threats. One +of the travellers leaped from his steed, seized his assailant by the +throat, and holding a loaded pistol to his head, indicated his determination +of blowing out his brains. The effect of this resolute conduct +was immediate; the robbers desisted from their attack, and were soon +engaged in quite an amicable conversation with those they had intended +to plunder. At last they pointed out a good place for an encampment, +receiving in return a trifling <i>backshish</i>, collected from the +whole caravan.</p> +<p>A few days later, the travellers, having started at two in the morning, +entered a magnificent mountain-valley, which had been cloven through +the solid rock by the waters of a copious stream. A narrow stony +path followed the course of the stream upward. The moon shone +in unclouded light; or it would have been difficult even for the well-trained +horses of the caravan to have kept their footing along the dangerous +way, encumbered as it was with fallen masses of rock.</p> +<p>Like chamois, however, they scrambled up the <!-- page 116--><a name="page116"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 116</span>steep +mountain-side, and safely carried their riders round frightful projections +and past dangerous, dizzy precipices. So wild, so romantic was +the scene, with its shifting lights and shadows, its sudden bursts of +silvery lustre where the valley lay open to the moon, and its depths +of darkness in many a winding recess, that even Madame Pfeiffer’s +uncultured companions were irresistibly moved by its influence; and +as they rode along not a sound was heard but the clatter of the horses’ +hoofs, and the fall of rolling stones into the chasm below. But +all at once thick clouds gathered over the moon, and the gloom became +so intense that the travellers could scarcely discern each one his fellow. +The leader continually struck fire with a flint, that the sparks might +afford some slight indication of the proper course. But this was +not enough; and as the horses began to miss their footing, the only +hope of safety consisted in remaining immovable. With the break +of day, however, a gray light spread over the scene, and the travellers +found themselves surrounded by a circle of lofty mountains, rising one +above the other in magnificent gradation, and superbly dominated by +one mighty snow-crowned mass.</p> +<p>The journey was resumed. Soon the travellers <!-- page 117--><a name="page117"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 117</span>became +aware of the fact that the path was sprinkled with spots of blood. +At last they came to a place which was crimsoned by a complete pool; +and looking down into the ravine, they could see two human bodies, one +lying scarcely a hundred feet below them, the other, which had rolled +further, half hidden by a projecting crag. From this scene of +murder they gladly hastened.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>At a town called Ravandus Madame Pfeiffer rested for some days, making +observations on the manners and customs of the Kurds. She was +not prepossessed in their favour by what she saw: the women are idle, +ignorant, and squalid; the men work as little and rob as much as they +can. Polygamy is practised; and religion is reduced to the performance +of a few formalities. The costume of the wealthier Kurds is purely +Oriental, that of the common people varies from it a little. The +men wear wide linen trousers, and over them a shirt confined by a girdle, +with a sleeveless woollen jacket, made of stuff of only a hand’s-breadth +wide, and sewed together. Instead of white trousers, some wear +brown, which are anything but picturesque, and look like sacks with +two holes for the insertion <!-- page 118--><a name="page118"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 118</span>of +the feet,—the said feet being encased in boots of red or yellow +leather, with large iron heels; or in shoes of coarse white wool, adorned +with three tassels. The turban is the universal head-covering.</p> +<p>The women don loose trousers, and red or yellow boots, with iron +heels, like the men; but over all they wear a long blue garment which, +if not tucked up under the girdle, would depend some inches below the +ankles. A large blue shawl descends below the knee. Round +their heads they twist black shawls, turban-wise; or they wear the red +fez, with a silk handkerchief wound about it; and on the top of this, +a kind of wreath made of short black fringe, worn like a diadem, but +leaving the forehead free. The hair falls in narrow braids over +the shoulders, and from the turban droops a heavy silver chain. +As a head-dress it is remarkably attractive; and it is but just to say +that it often sets off really handsome faces, with fine features, and +glowing eyes.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page119.jpg"> +<img alt="Tartar Caravan" src="images/page119.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>In her further wanderings through the wild lands of Persia, our traveller +came to Urumiyeh, on the borders of the salt lake of that name, which +in several physical features closely resembles the Dead Sea. Urumiyeh +is a place of some celebrity, for it <!-- page 121--><a name="page121"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 121</span>gave +birth to Zoroaster, the preacher of a creed of considerable moral purity, +which has spread over a great part of Asia. Entering a more fertile +country, she reached Tabreez in safety, and was once more within the +influence of law and order. Tabreez, the residence of the viceroy, +is a handsomely-built town, with numerous silk and leather manufactories, +and is reputed to be one of the chief seats of Asiatic commerce. +Its streets are clean and tolerably broad; in each a little rivulet +is carried underground, with openings at regular intervals for the purpose +of dipping out water. Of the houses the passer-by sees no more +than is seen in any other Oriental town: lofty walls, windowless, with +low entrances; and the fronts always looking in upon the open courtyards, +which bloom with trees and flowers, and usually adjoin a pleasant garden. +Inside, the chambers are usually lofty and spacious, with rows of windows +which seem to form complete walls of glass. Buildings of public +importance there are none; excepting the bazaar, which covers a considerable +area, and is laid out with lofty, broad, and covered thoroughfares.</p> +<p>The traveller turned her back upon Tabreez on the 11th of August, +and in a carriage drawn by <!-- page 122--><a name="page122"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 122</span>post-horses, +and attended by a single servant, set out for Natschivan. At Arax +she crossed the frontier of Asiatic Russia, the dominions of the “White +Tsar,” who, in Asia as in Europe, is ever pressing more and more +closely on the “unspeakable Turk.” At Natschivan she +joined a caravan which was bound for Tiflis, and the drivers of which +were Tartars. She says of the latter, that they do not live so +frugally as the Arabs. Every evening a savoury pillau was made +with good-tasting fat, frequently with dried grapes or plums. +They also partook largely of fruits.</p> +<p>The caravan wound through the fair and fertile valleys which lie +at the base of Ararat. Of that famous and majestic mountain, which +lifts its white glittering crest of snow some sixteen thousand feet +above the sea-level, our traveller obtained a fine view. Its summit +is cloven into two peaks, and in the space between an old tradition +affirms that Noah’s ark landed at the subsidence of the Great +Flood.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page123.jpg"> +<img alt="Mount Ararat" src="images/page123.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>In the neighbourhood of a town called Sidin, Madame Pfeiffer met +with a singular adventure. She was returning from a short walk, +when, hearing the sound of approaching post-horses, she paused for a +minute to see the travellers, and noticed a <!-- page 125--><a name="page125"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 125</span>Russian, +seated in an open car, with a Cossack holding a musket by his side. +As soon as the vehicle had passed, she resumed her course; when, to +her astonishment, it suddenly stopped, and almost at the same moment +she felt a fierce grasp on her arms. It was the Cossack, who endeavoured +to drag her to the car. She struggled with him, and pointing to +the caravan, said she belonged to it; but the fellow put his hand on +her mouth, and flung her into the car, where she was firmly seized by +the Russian. Then the Cossack sprang to his seat, and away they +went at a smart gallop. The whole affair was the work of a few +seconds, so that Madame Pfeiffer could scarcely recognize what had happened. +As the man still held her tightly, and kept her mouth covered up, she +was unable to give an alarm. The brave woman, however, retained +her composure, and speedily arrived at the conclusion that her “heroic” +captors had mistaken her for some dangerous spy. Uncovering her +mouth, they began to question her closely; and Madame Pfeiffer understood +enough Russian to tell them her name, native country, and object in +travelling. This did not satisfy them, and they asked for her +passport,—which, however, she could not show them, as it was in +her portmanteau.</p> +<p><!-- page 126--><a name="page126"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 126</span>At +length they reached the post-house. Madame Pfeiffer was shown +into a room, at the door of which the Cossack stationed himself with +his musket. She was detained all night; but the next morning, +having fetched her portmanteau, they examined her passport, and were +then pleased to dismiss her—without, however, offering any apology +for their shameful treatment of her. Such are the incivilities +to which travellers in the Russian dominions are too constantly exposed. +It is surprising that a powerful government should condescend to so +much petty fear and mean suspicion.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page127.jpg"> +<img alt="Odessa" src="images/page127.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>From Tiflis our traveller proceeded across Georgia to Redutkali; +whence she made her way to Kertsch, on the shore of the Sea of Azov; +and thence to Sebastopol, destined a few years later to become the scene +of an historic struggle. She afterwards reached Odessa, one of +the great granaries of Europe, situated at the mouth of the Dniester +and the Dnieper. From Odessa to Constantinople the distance by +sea is four hundred and twenty miles. She made but a short stay +in the Turkish capital; and then proceeded by steamer to Smyrna, passing +through the maze of the beautiful isles of Greece; and from Smyrna to +Athens. Here she trod on hallowed <!-- page 129--><a name="page129"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 129</span>ground. +Every temple, every ruin, recalled to her some brave deed of old, or +some illustrious name of philosopher, warrior, statesman, poet, that +the world will not willingly let die. A rush of stirring glorious +memories swept over her mind as she gazed on the lofty summit of the +Acropolis, covered with memorials of the ancient art, and associated +with the great events of Athenian history. The Parthenon, or Temple +of Pallas; the Temple of Theseus; that of Olympian Jove; the Tower of +the Winds, or so-called Lantern of Demosthenes; and the Choragic Monument +of Lysicrates,—all these she saw, and wondered at. But they +have been so frequently described, that we may pass them here with this +slight reference.</p> +<p>From Corinth our traveller crossed to Corfu, and from Corfu ascended +the Adriatic to Trieste. A day or two afterwards she was received +by her friends at Vienna,—having accomplished the most extraordinary +journey ever undertaken by a woman, and made the complete circuit of +the world. In the most remarkable scenes, and in the most critical +positions, she had preserved a composure, a calmness of courage, and +a simplicity of conduct, that must always command our admiration.</p> +<h2><!-- page 130--><a name="page130"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 130</span>CHAPTER +III.—NORTHWARD.</h2> +<p>In giving to the world a narrative of her journey to Iceland, and +her wanderings through Norway and Sweden, Madame Pfeiffer anticipated +certain objections that would be advanced by the over-refined. +“Another journey!” she supposed them to exclaim; “and +that to regions far more likely to repel than attract the general traveller! +What object could this woman have had in visiting them, but a desire +to excite our astonishment and raise our curiosity? We might have +been induced to pardon her pilgrimage to the Holy Land, though it was +sufficiently hazardous for a solitary woman, because it was prompted, +perhaps, by her religious feelings,—and incredible things, as +we all know, are frequently accomplished under such an impulse. +But, for the <!-- page 131--><a name="page131"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 131</span>present +expedition, what reasonable motive can possibly be suggested?”</p> +<p>Madame Pfeiffer remarks that in all this a great injustice is, or +would be, done to her; that she was a plain, inoffensive creature, and +by no means desirous of drawing upon herself the observation of the +crowd. As a matter of fact, she was but following the bent of +her natural disposition. From her earliest childhood she had yearned +to go forth into the wide world. She could never meet a travelling-carriage +without stopping to watch it, and envying the postilion who drove it +or the persons it conveyed. When she was ten or twelve years old, +no reading had such a charm for her as books of voyages and travels; +and then she began to repine at the happiness of every great navigator +or discoverer, whose boldness revealed to him the secrets of lands and +seas before unknown.</p> +<p>She travelled much with her parents, and afterwards with her husband, +and thus her natural bias was encouraged. It was not until her +two sons were of age to be educated that she remained stationary—on +their account. As the business concerns of her husband required +his presence alternately in Vienna and in Lemberg, he intrusted to his +wife the <!-- page 132--><a name="page132"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 132</span>responsible +duty of superintending their education—feeling assured that, with +her perseverance and affection, she could supply the place of both parents.</p> +<p>When this duty was discharged, and the education of her sons completed, +the dreams and fancies of her youth once more revived within her. +She thought of the manners and customs of foreign lands, of remote islands +girdled by the “melancholy main,” and dwelt so long on the +great joy of treading “the blessed acres” trodden by the +Saviour’s feet, that at last she resolved on a pilgrimage thither. +She made the journey to Palestine. She visited Jerusalem, and +other hallowed scenes, and she returned in safety. She came, therefore, +to the conclusion that she was not presumptuously tempting the providence +of God, or laying herself open to the charge of wishing to excite the +admiration of her contemporaries, if she followed her inward impulse, +and once more adventured forth to see the world. She knew that +travel could not but broaden her views, elevate her thoughts, and inspire +her with new sympathies. Iceland, the next object of her desires, +was a country where she hoped to see Nature under an entirely novel +and peculiar aspect. “I feel,” she says, “so +wonderfully happy, and draw so close to my Maker, <!-- page 133--><a name="page133"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 133</span>while +gazing upon such scenes, that no difficulties or fatigues can deter +me from seeking so great a reward.”</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>It was in the year 1845 that Madame Pfeiffer began her northward +journey. She left Vienna on the 10th of April, and by way of Prague, +Dresden, and Altona, proceeded to Kiel. Thence the steamer carried +her to Copenhagen, a city of which she speaks in favourable terms. +She notices its numerous splendid palaces; its large and regular squares; +its broad and handsome promenades. At the Museum of Art she was +interested by the chair which Tycho Brahe, the astronomer, formerly +used; and at the Thorvaldsen Museum, the colossal lion executed by the +great Danish sculptor. Having seen all that was to be seen, she +took ship for Iceland, passing Helsingborg on the Swedish coast, and +Elsinore on the Danish, the latter associated with Shakespeare’s +“Hamlet;” and, through the Sound and the Cattegat, entering +upon the restless waters of the North Sea. Iceland came in sight +on the seventh day of a boisterous voyage, which had tried our traveller +somewhat severely; and at the close of the eleventh day she reached +Havenfiord, an excellent <!-- page 134--><a name="page134"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 134</span>harbour, +two miles from Reikiavik, the capital of Iceland.</p> +<p>Her first impressions of the Icelandic coast, she says, were very +different from the descriptions she had read in books. She had +conceived of a barren desolate waste, shrubless and treeless; and she +saw grassy hillocks, leafy copses, and even, as she thought, patches +of dwarfish woods. But as she drew nearer, and could distinguish +the different objects more plainly, the hillocks were transformed into +human habitations, with small doors and windows; and the groups of trees +proved to be huge lava masses, from ten to fifteen feet in height, entirely +overgrown with verdure and moss. Everything was new, was surprising; +and it was with pleasurable sensations of excitement and curiosity that +Madame Pfeiffer landed on the shores of Ultima Thule.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page135.jpg"> +<img alt="Reikiavik" src="images/page135.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>At Reikiavik she found the population inhabiting two very different +classes of habitations. The wooden houses of the well-to-do are +of a single story, she says, with five or six windows in front. +A low flight of steps conducts to an entrance in the centre of the building; +and this entrance opens into a vestibule, where two doors communicate +with the <!-- page 137--><a name="page137"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 137</span>rooms +on the right and left respectively. In the rear is the kitchen, +and beyond the courtyard. Such a house contains four or five rooms +on the ground-floor, and a few small chambers under the roof. +The domestic or household arrangements are entirely European. +The furniture, much of which is mahogany, comes from Copenhagen, which +also supplies the mirrors and cast-iron stoves. Handsome rugs +are spread in front of the sofas; neat curtains drop before the windows; +English engravings ornament the whitewashed walls; and china, silver, +and cut-glass, and the like, are displayed upon the cabinets or corner-tables.</p> +<p>But the poor live in huts which are decidedly much more Icelandic. +They are small and low; built of lava blocks, filled in with earth; +and as the whole is covered with turf, they might almost be mistaken +for natural elevations of the ground, if the wooden chimneys, and low +doors, and almost imperceptible windows, did not betray that they were +tenanted by human beings. A dark, narrow passage, not more than +four feet high, leads on one hand to the living-room, on the other to +the store-room, where the provisions are kept, and where, in winter, +the cows and sheep are stabled. The fireplace is <!-- page 138--><a name="page138"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 138</span>generally +at the end of this passage, which is purposely built low to keep out +the cold. Neither the walls nor floors of these huts are boarded; +the dwelling-rooms are scarcely large enough for people to sleep in +or turn round in; and the whole furniture consists of the bedsteads +(very poorly supplied with bedding), a small table, and a few chests—the +latter, as well as the beds, being used for seats. To poles fastened +in the walls are suspended clothes, shoes, stockings, and other articles; +and in each hut is generally found a tiny book-shelf supporting a few +volumes. No stoves are needed in these rooms, which are sufficiently +warmed by the presence of their numerous inmates.</p> +<p>Speaking of the better classes of the inhabitants of the Icelandic +capital, our traveller says: “Nothing struck me so much as the +great dignity of carriage at which the Icelandic ladies aim, and which +is so apt to degenerate into stiffness when it is not perfectly natural, +or has not become a second nature by habit. They incline their +head very coolly when you meet them, with less civility than we should +use towards an inferior or a stranger. The lady of the house never +accompanies her guests beyond the door of the room, after a call; if +the husband is <!-- page 139--><a name="page139"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 139</span>present, +he goes a little further; but when this is not the case, you are often +at a loss which way to turn, as there is no servant on the spot to open +the street door for you, unless it may happen to be in the house of +the Stiftsamtmann, the first dignitary of the island.”</p> +<p>The church at Reikiavik is capable of accommodating about one hundred +and fifty persons; it is built of stone, with a wooden roof, under which +is kept a library of several thousand volumes. It possesses an +artistic treasure of no ordinary value in a font by Thorvaldsen, whose +parents were natives of Iceland, though he himself was born in Denmark. +Captain Burton describes it as the ancient classical altar, with basso-relievos +on all four sides—subjects of course evangelical; on the top an +alto-relievo of symbolical flowers, roses, and passifloræ is cut +to support the normal “Dobefal,” or baptismal basin. +In the sacristy are preserved some handsome priestly robes—especially +the velvet vestment sent by Pope Julius II. to the last Roman Catholic +bishop in the early part of the sixteenth century, and still worn by +the chief Protestant dignitary at ordinations.</p> +<p>The climate at Reikiavik would be considered severe by an Englishman. +The thermometer <!-- page 140--><a name="page140"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 140</span>sometimes +sinks as low as 13° below zero, and the sea is covered with ice +for several feet from the shore. The storms and snow-drifts are +of the most terrible character, and at times even the boldest Icelander +dares not cross his threshold. Daylight does not last more than +four or five hours; but the long night is illuminated by the splendid +coruscations of the aurora, filling the firmament with many-coloured +flame. From the middle until the end of June, however, there is +no night. The sun sinks for a short time below the hills, but +twilight blends with the dawn, and before the last rays of evening have +faded from the sky the morning light streams forth with renewed brilliancy.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>Then, as to the people, Madame Pfeiffer speaks of them as of medium +height and strength. Their hair is light, and frequently has a +reddish tint; their eyes are blue. The women are more prepossessing +in appearance than the men; and pleasing faces are not uncommon among +the young girls. They wear long skirts of coarse black woollen +stuff, with spencers, and coloured aprons. They cover their heads +with a man’s cap of the same material as their petticoats, ending +in a drooping point, to which <!-- page 141--><a name="page141"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 141</span>hangs +a woollen or silken tassel, falling as low as the shoulders. This +simple head-dress is not inelegant. All the women have an abundance +of hair hanging picturesquely about their face and neck; they wear it +loose and short, and it is sometimes curled.</p> +<p>The men appear to dress very much like the German peasants. +They wear pantaloons, jackets, and vests of dark cloth, with a felt +hat or fur cap, and the feet wrapped in pieces of skin, either seal, +sheep, or calf.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>Here, as a corrective, and for the sake of comparison, let us refer +to Captain Burton’s description. The men dress, he says, +like sailors, in breeches, jackets serving as coats, and vests of good +broadcloth, with four to six rows of buttons, always metal, either copper +or silver. The fishermen wear overcoats, coarse smooth waistcoats, +large paletots, made waterproof by grease or fish-liver oil; leather +overalls, stockings, and native shoes. The women attire themselves +in jackets and gowns, petticoats and aprons of woollen frieze; over +which is thrown a “hempa,” or wide black robe, like a Jesuit +frock, trimmed with velvet binding. The wealthy add <!-- page 142--><a name="page142"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 142</span>silver +ornaments down the length of the dress, and braid the other articles +with silk ribbons, galloon, or velvets of various colours. The +ruff forms a stiff collar, from three to four inches broad, of very +fine stuff, embroidered with gold or silver. The conical head-dress, +resembling a fool’s-cap or sugar-loaf, measures two or three feet +high, and is kept in its place by a coarse cloth, and covered with a +finer kerchief. The soleless shoes of ox-hide or sheepskin, made +by the women out of a single piece, are strapped to the instep.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>Having made herself generally acquainted with the Icelanders and +their mode of living, Madame Pfeiffer began to visit the most romantic +and interesting spots in the island accessible to an adventurous woman. +At first she confined herself to the neighbourhood of Reikiavik. +She journeyed, for instance, to the island of Vidöe, the cliffs +of which are frequented by the eider-duck. Its tameness while +brooding is very remarkable. “I had always looked,” +she says, “on the wonderful stories I had heard on this subject +as fabulous, and should do still had I not been an eye-witness to the +fact. I approached and laid my hands on the birds while they were +<!-- page 143--><a name="page143"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 143</span>sitting; +yes, I could even caress them without their attempting to move from +their nests; or, if they left them for a moment, it was only to walk +off for a few steps, and remain quietly waiting till I withdrew, when +they immediately returned to their station. Those whose young +were already hatched, however, would beat their wings with violence, +and snap at me with their bills when I came near them, rather allowing +themselves to be seized than to desert their broods. In size they +resemble our common duck; their eggs are of a greenish-gray, rather +larger than hens’ eggs, and of an excellent flavour. Each +bird lays about eleven eggs. The finest down is that with which +they line their nests at first; it is of a dark gray, and is regularly +carried off by the islanders with the first eggs. The poor bird +then robs itself of a second portion of its down, and lays a few more +eggs, which are also seized; and it is not till the nest has been felted +for the third time that the ducks are left unmolested to bring up their +brood. The down of the second, and particularly that of the third +hatching, is much lighter than the first, and of an inferior quality.”</p> +<p>The salmon-fishery at the Larsalf next engaged our traveller’s +attention. It is conducted after a <!-- page 144--><a name="page144"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 144</span>primitively +simple fashion. When the fish at spawning-time seek the quiet +waters of the inland stream, their way back to the sea is blocked up +by an embankment of loose stones, about three feet high. In front +of this wall is extended a net; and several similar barriers are erected +at intervals of eighty to a hundred paces, to prevent the fish which +have slipped over one of them from finally accomplishing their escape. +A day is appointed for a grand <i>battue</i>. The water is then +let off as much as possible; and the ensnared fish, feeling it grow +shallower, dart hither and thither in frantic confusion, and eventually +gather together in such a mass that the fishermen have only to thrust +in their hands and seize their prey.</p> +<p>Yet <i>some</i> degree of skill is necessary, for, as everybody knows, +the salmon is full of vivacity, and both strong and swift. So +the fisher takes his victim dexterously by head and tail, and throws +it ashore immediately. It is caught up by persons who are specially +appointed to this duty, and flung to a still greater distance from the +stream. Were not this done, and done quickly, many a fine fellow +would escape. It is strange to see the fish turn round in the +hands of their captors, and leap into the air, <!-- page 147--><a name="page147"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 147</span>so +that if the fishermen were not provided with woollen mittens, they could +not keep their hold of the slippery creatures at all. In these +wholesale razzias, from five hundred to a thousand fish are generally +taken at a time, each one weighing from five to fifteen pounds.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page145.jpg"> +<img alt="Salmon-fishing in Iceland" src="images/page145.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>Iceland may, with little exaggeration, be described as nothing more +than a stratum of snow and ice overlying a mass of fire and vapour and +boiling water. Nowhere else do we see the two elements of frost +and fire in such immediate contiguity. The icy plains are furrowed +by lower currents, and in the midst of wastes of snow rise the seething +ebullitions of hot springs. Several of the snow-shrouded mountains +of Iceland are volcanic. In the neighbourhood of Kriservick Madame +Pfeiffer saw a long, wide valley, traversed by a current of lava, half +a mile in length; a current consisting not merely of isolated blocks +and stones, but of large masses of porous rock, ten or twelve feet high, +frequently broken up by fissures a foot wide.</p> +<p>Six miles further, and our traveller entered another valley, where, +from the sulphur-springs and hills, rose numerous columns of smoke. +Ascending <!-- page 148--><a name="page148"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 148</span>the +neighbouring hills, she saw a truly remarkable scene: basins filled +with bubbling waters, and vaporous shafts leaping up from the fissures +in the hills and plains. By keeping to windward, she was able +to approach very near these phenomenal objects; the ground was lukewarm +in a few places, and she could hold her hand for several minutes at +a time over the cracks whence the vapour escaped. No water was +visible. The roar and hiss of the steam, combined with the violence +of the wind, made a noise so deafening that she was glad to quit the +scene, and feel a safer soil beneath her feet. It seemed to her +excited fancy as if the entire mountain were converted into a boiling +caldron.</p> +<p>Descending into the plain, she found there much to interest her. +Here a basin was filled with boiling mud; there, from another basin, +burst forth a column of steam with fearful violence. Several hot +springs bubbled and bubbled around. “These spots,” +says our traveller, “were far more dangerous than any on the hills; +in spite of the utmost caution, we often sank in above our ankles, and +drew back our feet in dread, covered with the damp exhalations, which, +with steam or boiling water, also escaped from the opening. I +allowed my guide to feel his <!-- page 149--><a name="page149"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 149</span>way +in front of me with a stick; but, notwithstanding his precaution, he +went through in one place half-way to his knee—though he was so +used to the danger that he treated it very lightly, and stopped quite +phlegmatically at the next spring to cleanse himself from the mud. +Being also covered with it to the ankles, I followed his example.”</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>We must now accompany our traveller on some longer excursions.</p> +<p>And first, to Thingvalla, the place where, of old, the Althing or +island-parliament was annually held. One side of the great valley +of council is bounded by the sea, the other by a fine range of peaks, +always more or less covered with snow. Through the pass of the +Almannagja we descend upon the Thingvallavatn lake, an expanse of placid +blue, about thirty miles in circuit. While our attention is rivetted +on the lake and the dark brown hills which encircle it, a chasm suddenly, +and as if by enchantment, opens at our feet, separating us from the +valleys beyond. It varies from thirty to forty feet in width, +is several hundred feet in depth, and four miles in length.</p> +<p>“We were compelled,” says Madame Pfeiffer, “to +<!-- page 150--><a name="page150"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 150</span>descend +its steep and dangerous sides by a narrow path leading over fragments +of lava. My uneasiness increased as we went down, and could see +the colossal masses, in the shape of pillars or columns tottering loosely +on the brink of the precipice above our heads, threatening death and +desolation at any moment. Mute and anxious, we crept along in +breathless haste, scarcely venturing to raise our eyes, much less to +give vent to the least expression of alarm, for fear of starting the +avalanche of stone, of the impetuous force of which we could form some +idea by the shattered rocks around us. The echo is very remarkable, +and gives back the faintest whisper with perfect distinctness.”</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>Every traveller to Iceland feels bound to visit its Geysirs, and +Madame Pfeiffer did as others did. From Thingvalla she rode for +some distance along the side of the lakes, and then struck through a +rocky pass of a very difficult character, into a series of valleys of +widely different aspect. At last she came to a stream which flowed +over a bed of lava, and between banks of lava, with great rapidity and +a rushing, roaring sound. At one point the river-bed was cleft +through its centre, to the depth of <!-- page 151--><a name="page151"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 151</span>eighteen +or twenty feet, by a chasm from fifteen to eighteen feet wide, into +which the waters pour with considerable violence. A bridge in +the middle of the river spans this rift, and the stranger who reaches +the banks feels unable to account for its appearance among the cloud +of spray which entirely conceals the chasm in the bed of the stream.</p> +<p>Into her description of the passage of the river it is to be feared +that Madame Pfeiffer introduces a little exaggeration. The waters +roar, she says, with the utmost violence, and dashing wildly into the +cavity, they form falls on both sides of it, or shiver themselves to +spray against the projecting cliffs; at the extremity of the chasm, +which is not far from the bridge, the stream is precipitated in its +whole breadth over rocks from thirty to forty feet in height. +“Our horses began to tremble, and struggled to escape when we +drew near the most furious part of the torrent, where the noise was +really deafening; and it was not without the greatest difficulty we +succeeded in making them obey the reins, and bear us through the foaming +waves by which the bridge was washed.” Either the scene +has greatly altered since Madame Pfeiffer’s visit, or her imagination +has considerably <!-- page 152--><a name="page152"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 152</span>over-coloured +its principal features. That is, if we accept the accounts of +recent travellers, and especially that of Captain Burton, who has laboured +so successfully to reduce the romance of Icelandic travel to plain matter +of fact.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page153.jpg"> +<img alt="Great Geysir" src="images/page153.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>The Geysirs lie within a comparatively limited area, and consist +of various specimens, differing considerably in magnitude. The +basin of the Great Geysir lies on a gentle elevation, about ten feet +above the plain; it measures about one hundred and fifty feet in diameter, +while that of the seething caldron is ten feet. Both caldron and +basin, on the occasion of Madame Pfeiffer’s visit, were full to +the brim with crystal-clear water in a state of slight ebullition. +At irregular intervals a column of water is shot perpendicularly upwards +from the centre of the caldron, the explosion being always preceded +by a low rumbling; but she was not so fortunate as to witness one of +these eruptions. Lord Dufferin, however, after three days’ +watch, was rewarded for his patience. The usual underground thunder +having been heard, he and his friends rushed to the spot. A violent +agitation was convulsing the centre of the pool. Suddenly a crystal +dome lifted itself up to the height of eight or ten <!-- page 155--><a name="page155"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 155</span>feet, +and then fell; immediately after which, a shining liquid column, or +rather a sheaf of columns, wreathed in robes of vapour, sprang into +the air, and in a succession of jerking leaps, each higher than its +predecessor, flung their silver crests against the sky. For a +few minutes the fountain held its own, then all at once appeared to +lose its ascending power. The unstable waters faltered, drooped, +fell, “like a broken purpose,” back upon themselves, and +were immediately absorbed in the depths of the subterranean shaft.</p> +<p>About one hundred and forty yards distant is the Strokkr, or “churn,” +with a basin about seven feet wide in its outer, and eighteen feet in +its inner diameter. A funnel or inverted cone in shape, whereas +the Great Geysir is a mound and a cylinder, it gives the popular idea +of a crater. Its surface is “an ugly area of spluttering +and ever boiling water.” It frequently “erupts,” +and throws a spout into the air, sometimes as high as forty or fifty +feet, the outbursts lasting from ten to thirty minutes. Madame +Pfeiffer had not the luck to see it in its grandest moods; the highest +eruption she saw did not rise above thirty feet, nor last more than +fifteen minutes. An eruption can be produced <!-- page 156--><a name="page156"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 156</span>by +throwing into the caldron a sufficient quantity of turf or stones.</p> +<p>Two remarkable springs lie directly above the Geysirs, in openings +separated by a barrier of rock—which, however, rise nowhere above +the level of the ground. Their waters boil very gently, with an +equable and almost rhythmic flow. The charm of these springs lies +in their wonderful transparency and clearness. All the prominent +points and corners, the varied outlines of the cavities, and the different +recesses, can be distinguished far within the depths, until the eye +is lost in the darkness of the abyss; and the luminous effects upon +the rocks lend an additional beauty to the scene, which has all the +magic of the poet’s fairy-land. It is illumined by a radiance +of a soft pale blue and green, which reaches only a few inches from +the rocky barrier, leaving the waters beyond in colourless transparency. +The light, to all appearance, seems reflected from the rock, but is +really owing to atmospheric causes.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>From the Geysirs, Madame Pfeiffer proceeded towards Hekla; and at +the village of Thorfüstadir, on the route, had an opportunity of +seeing an Icelandic <!-- page 157--><a name="page157"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 157</span>funeral. +On entering the church she found the mourners consoling themselves with +a dram of brandy. On the arrival of the priest, a psalm or prayer +was screamed, under his direction, by a chosen number of the congregation; +each shouting his loudest, until he was completely out of breath. +The priest, standing by the coffin, which, for lack of better accommodation, +was resting on one of the seats, read in a loud voice a prayer of more +than half an hour’s duration. The body was then borne to +the grave, which was one of remarkable depth; and the coffin being duly +lowered, the priest threw earth upon it thrice, thus terminating the +ceremony.</p> +<p>At the little village of Skalholt, where the first Icelandic bishopric +was established in 1095, Madame Pfeiffer was invited to visit the church, +and inspect its treasures. She was shown the grave of the first +bishop, Thorlakúr, whose memory is cherished as that of a saint; +an old embroidered robe, and a plain gold chalice, both of which probably +belonged to him; and, in an antique chest, some dusty books in the Iceland +dialect, besides three ponderous folios in German, containing the letters, +epistles, and treatises of Martin Luther.</p> +<p>Continuing her journey, she arrived at the little <!-- page 158--><a name="page158"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 158</span>village +of Sälsun, which lies at the foot of Mount Hekla. Here she +secured the services of a guide, and made preparations for the ascent +of the famous volcano. These included the purchase of a store +of bread and cheese, and the supply of a bottle of water for herself, +and one of brandy for the guide, besides long sticks, shod with iron, +to steady the adventurers’ footsteps.</p> +<p>The day fixed for the expedition opened brightly and warmly. +At first the road led through fields of tolerable fertility, covered +with a rich green herbage, soft as velvet; and then traversed patches +of black sand, surrounded by hills, and blocks, and currents of lava. +By degrees it grew more difficult, and was so encumbered with lava as +greatly to impede the progress of the travellers. Around and behind +them rolled the dark congealed lava; and it was needful to be constantly +on the watch, to prevent themselves from stumbling, or to avoid rude +contact with the rolling rocks. Greater still was the danger in +the rifts and gorges filled with snow moistening already in the summer +heat; here they frequently broke through the deceptive crust, or at +every step slipped backwards almost as far as they had advanced.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page159.jpg"> +<img alt="Mount Hekla" src="images/page159.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p><!-- page 161--><a name="page161"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 161</span>At +length they reached a point where it became necessary to leave behind +the horses, and trust entirely to their own strength. Laboriously, +but undauntedly, Madame Pfeiffer pressed upward. Yet, as she looked +around on the sterile scene, which seemed to have been swept by a blast +of fire, and on the drear expanse of black lava that surrounded her, +Madame Pfeiffer could scarcely repress a sensation of pain and terror.</p> +<p>They had still, she says, three heights to climb; the last of which +was also the most dangerous. The path clambered up the rocks which +covered the entire area of the mountain-summit. Frequent were +our traveller’s falls; her hands were sadly wounded by the sharp +jagged projections of the lava; and her eyes suffered severely from +the dazzling brilliancy of the snow that filled every gorge and ravine.</p> +<p>But every obstacle gives way to the resolute; and at last Madame +Pfeiffer stood on the topmost peak of Hekla. Here she made a discovery: +in books of travel she had read of the crater of Mount Hekla, but a +careful survey convinced her that none existed. There was neither +opening, crevasse, nor sunken wall; in fact, no sign of a crater. +Lower down on the mountain-side she detected some wide <!-- page 162--><a name="page162"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 162</span>fissures; +and from these, not from any crater, must have rolled the lava-rivers. +The height of the mountain is computed at 5110 feet.</p> +<p>During the last hour of the ascent the sun had been veiled in mists, +and from the neighbouring glaciers dense clouds now poured down upon +them, obscuring or concealing the entire prospect. Fortunately, +they gradually dissolved into snow, which spread a carpet, white and +soft and glittering, over the dreary lava. The thermometer stood +at 29¾° F.</p> +<p>The snow-storm passed, and the sun once more gladdened earth, and +filled with light the clear blue arch of the firmament. On her +elevated watchtower stood the adventurous traveller, till the clouds, +passing away, opened up to her wondering gaze the glorious view—glorious, +yet terrible! It seemed as if the ruins of a burned-up world lay +all around: the wastes were strewn with masses of lava; of life not +a sign was visible; blocks of barren lava were piled upon one another +in chaotic confusion; and vast streams of indurated volcanic matter +choked up every valley.</p> +<p>“Here, on the topmost peak of Hekla,” writes Madame Pfeiffer, +“I could look down far and wide upon the uninhabited land, the +image of a torpid <!-- page 163--><a name="page163"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 163</span>nature, +passionless, inanimate, and yet sublime,—an image which, once +seen, can never be forgotten, and the remembrance of which will compensate +me amply for all the toils and difficulties I have endured. A +whole world of glaciers, lava-peaks, fields of snow and ice, rivers +and miniature lakes, were comprehended in that magnificent prospect; +and the foot of man had never yet ventured within these regions of gloom +and solitude. How terrible must have been the resistless fury +of the element which has produced all these changes! And is its +rage now silenced for ever? Will it be satisfied with the ruin +it has wrought? Or does it slumber only to break forth again with +renewed strength, and lay waste those few cultivated spots which are +scattered so sparingly throughout the land? I thank God that he +has allowed me to see this chaos of his creation; and I doubly thank +him that my lot was cast in these fair plains where the sun does more +than divide the day from the night; where it warms and animates plant-life +and animal-life; where it awakens in the heart of man the deepest feelings +of gratitude towards his Maker.”</p> +<p>On her way down our traveller discovered that the snow had not melted +for the first five or six <!-- page 164--><a name="page164"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 164</span>hundred +feet. Below that distance the mountain-sides were enveloped in +a shroud of vapour. That glossy, coal-black, shining lava, which +is never porous, can be found only at Hekla and in its immediate vicinity; +but the other varieties, jagged, porous, and vitrified, are also met +with, though they are invariably black, as is the sand which covers +the side of the mountain. As the distance from the volcano increases, +the lava loses its jet-black colour, and fades into an iron-gray.</p> +<p>After an absence of twelve hours, Madame Pfeiffer reached Sälsun +in safety.</p> +<p>Six-and-twenty eruptions of Hekla have been recorded,—the last +having occurred in 1845-46. One was prolonged for a period of +six years, spreading desolation over a country which had formerly been +the seat of a prosperous settlement, and burying the cultivated fields +beneath a flood of lava, scoriæ, and ashes. During the eruption +of 1845-46, three new crater-vents were formed, from which sprang columns +of fire and smoke to the height of 14,000 feet. The lava accumulated +in formidable masses, and fragments of scoriæ and pumice-stone +weighing two hundredweight were thrown to a distance of a league and +a half; while the ice and snow <!-- page 165--><a name="page165"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 165</span>which +had lain on the mountain for centuries were liquefied, and rolled in +devastating torrents over the plains.</p> +<p>Hekla is not the only volcanic mountain of Iceland. Mounts +Leirhnukr and Krabla, in the northeast, are very formidable; and one +of the most terrible eruptions recorded in the island annals was that +of the Skaptá Jokul in 1783.</p> +<p>We have now completed our summary of Madame Pfeiffer’s Icelandic +excursions. From the country we may pass to its inhabitants, and +ascertain the deliberate opinion she had formed of them after an experience +extending over several weeks, and under conditions which enabled so +shrewd an observer as she was to judge them impartially. Her estimate +of their character is decidedly less favourable than that of her predecessors; +but it is to be noted that in almost every particular it is confirmed +by the latest authority, Captain Burton. And the evidence goes +to show that they are not the simple, generous, primitive, guileless +Arcadians which it had pleased some fanciful minds to portray.</p> +<p>Their principal occupation consists in the fisheries, which are pursued +with the greatest activity during the months of February, March, and +April. The <!-- page 166--><a name="page166"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 166</span>people +from the interior then stream into the different harbours, and bargain +with the coast-population, the fishermen proper, to help them for a +share of the profits. On the other hand, in July and August many +of the coast-population penetrate inland, and lend their services in +the hay-harvest, for which they are paid in butter, wool, and salted +lamb. Others resort to the mountains in search of Iceland moss, +which they mix with milk, and use as an article of food; or grind it +into meal, and make cakes with it, as a substitute for bread. +The labours of the women consist in preparing the fish for drying, smoking, +or salting; in tending the cattle, in knitting, and gathering moss. +During the winter season both men and women knit uninterruptedly.</p> +<p>Madame Pfeiffer thinks their hospitality has been overrated, and +gives them credit for the ability to make a good bargain. In fact, +she saw nothing of that disinterestedness which Dr. Henderson and other +travellers have ascribed to them. They are intolerably addicted +to brandy-drinking,—indeed, their circumstances would greatly +improve if they drank less and worked more. They are scarcely +less passionately addicted to snuff-taking, as well as to tobacco-chewing. +Their mode of taking snuff is <!-- page 167--><a name="page167"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 167</span>peculiar, +and certainly not one to be imitated. Most of the peasants, and +even many of the priests, have no snuff-boxes, but make use instead +of a piece of bone, turned in the shape of a little powder-horn. +When desirous of indulging in a little titillation, they throw back +their heads, and putting the point of the horn to their nostril, empty +in the snuff. So little fastidious are these devotees, that they +frequently pass on a horn from nose to nose, without the needless formality +of cleaning it. The mention of this practice leads Madame Pfeiffer +to comment very severely on the want of cleanliness among the Icelanders, +who are as dirty in their houses as in their persons.</p> +<p>They are also remarkable for their laziness. There are many +ample stretches of meadow-land at a short distance from the coast, completely +covered with bog, and passable only with great precautions, which the +construction of a few ditches would thoroughly drain. Capital +grass would then spring up in abundant crops. It is well known +that such will grow in Iceland, for the hillocks which rise above the +swamps are luxuriantly overgrown with herbage and wild clover. +The best soil is found, it is said, on the north side of the island, +where potatoes grow very well, and also a few trees—which, however, +do <!-- page 168--><a name="page168"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 168</span>not +exceed seven or eight feet in height. The chief occupation of +the northerners is cattle-breeding, particularly in the interior, where +some of the farmers own three or four hundred sheep, ten or fifteen +cows, and a dozen horses. These, it is true, are exceptional cases; +but, as a rule, the population here are in much better circumstances +than the wretched coast-population, who chiefly rely on the products +of their fisheries.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>From Iceland Madame Pfeiffer embarked for Copenhagen on the 29th +of July, in the sloop <i>Haabet</i> (the “Hope”), which +proved by no means a vessel of luxurious accommodation. Our resolute +voyager gives an amusing account of her trials. The fare, for +instance, was better adapted for a hermit than for a lady of gentle +nurture; but it was sublimely impartial, being exactly the same for +captain, mate, crew, and passengers. For breakfast they had wretched +tea,—or rather, dirty tea-coloured water,—which the common +hands drank without any sugar. The officers made use of a small +lump of candy, holding it in their mouths, where it melted slowly, while +they swallowed cup after cup to moisten the hard ship-biscuit and rancid +butter.</p> +<p><!-- page 169--><a name="page169"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 169</span>The +dinners, however, showed a daily variation. First, a piece of +salted meat, which, having been soaked and boiled in sea-water, was +so intolerably hard, tough, and salt that it required the digestion +of an ostrich to overtake it. Instead of soup, vegetables, or +dessert, barley grits were served up, plainly boiled, without salt or +butter, and eaten with syrup and vinegar. On the second day, the +<i>pièce de resistance</i> was a lump of bacon, boiled in salt +water; this was followed by the barley grits. On the third day, +cod-fish and pease; on the fourth, the same bill of fare as on the first; +and so on,—a cup of coffee, without milk, closing the noonday +meal. The evening’s repast resembled that of the morning, +consisting of tea-water and ship-biscuit.</p> +<p>So much for the fare. As to the “table appointments,” +they were miserably meagre. The cloth was a piece of an old sail, +so soiled and dirty that it effectually deprived Madame Pfeiffer and +her fellow-passengers of any small appetite with which they might have +sat down to dinner. Madame Pfeiffer began to think that it would +be better to have no cloth at all. She was mistaken! One +day she saw the steward belabouring a piece of sailcloth, which was +stretched on the deck under his feet, to <!-- page 170--><a name="page170"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 170</span>receive +a good sweeping from the ship’s broom. The numerous spots +of dirt and grease showed plainly that it was the table-cloth; and that +same evening the table was bare. The consequence was, that the +teapot had no sooner been placed upon it than it began to slide; and +nothing but the captain’s adroitness prevented the entire “bill +of fare” from being poured into the laps of the guests. +It then became evident that</p> +<blockquote><p>A table-cloth all foul and stained <br /> + Is better far than none at all!</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The <i>Hope</i> was twenty days at sea, and for twelve days out of +sight of land. She was wind-driven to the westward, so that her +passengers saw but few of the monsters of the Northern Seas. They +caught sight of the spout of a single whale in the distance; it rose +in the air exactly like a fountain-jet, but the animal itself was too +far off for its huge outlines to be discernible. One shark had +the gallantry to swim round them for a few minutes, affording them an +opportunity of observing it closely. It appeared to be from sixteen +to eighteen feet in length.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>The “unresting” traveller reached Copenhagen <!-- page 171--><a name="page171"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 171</span>on +the 19th of August, and on the very same day embarked again for Sweden +and Norway.</p> +<p>Let us accompany her to Christiania. This town and its suburbs, +the fortress, the royal castle, the freemasons’ lodge, and other +buildings, surmount the noble harbour in a stately semicircle; which, +in its turn, is enclosed by meadows, and woods, and green hills. +As if loath to leave a scene so charming, the blue sea winds in among +the fields and vales to some distance behind the town.</p> +<p>The best part of Christiania is, not unnaturally, the latest built, +where the streets are broad and long, and the houses, both of brick +and stone, substantial. In the suburbs, most of the houses are +of timber. Some of the public edifices are architecturally conspicuous, +particularly the new castle and the fortress, which are finely situated +on a commanding elevation, and enjoy a prospect of great extent and +splendid variety.</p> +<p>Madame Pfeiffer was much struck by the diverseness of the conveyances +that dash through the pleasant, breezy streets of this picturesque city. +The most common, but the least convenient, are called <i>carriols</i>. +They consist of a very long, narrow, and uncovered box, strung between +two enormously high wheels, <!-- page 172--><a name="page172"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 172</span>and +provided with a very small seat, into which the passenger must squeeze +himself, with outstretched feet, and a leathern apron drawn over his +legs; nor can he, nor dare he, move, from the moment he gets in until +he gets out again. A place behind is provided for the coachman, +in case the occupant of the <i>carriol</i> is disinclined to drive; +but as it is unpleasant to have the reins shaken about one’s head, +and the whip constantly flourishing in one’s ears, the services +of a driver are seldom in requisition. Besides these unshapely +vehicles, there are phaetons, droschkis, chariots, and similar light +conveyances; but no covered carriages.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>From Christiania to Stockholm.</p> +<p>At Gothenburg Madame Pfeiffer embarked on board the steamer which +plies on the Götha Canal, the great water-way, linking streams +and lakes, which affords access to the Swedish capital. She found +herself before long on the River Götha, and at Lilla Edet came +to the first of the five locks which occur there. While the boat +was passing through them she had an opportunity of seeing the Götha +Falls, which, though of no great height, pour down a considerable volume +of water.</p> +<p><!-- page 173--><a name="page173"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 173</span>Through +fir woods, brown with shadows, the canal winds onward to the magnificent +locks of Trollhatten—an engineering achievement of which any nation +might be justly proud. They are eleven in number, and rise by +gradations to a height of 112 feet in a distance of 3550 feet. +The wide, deep channel excavated in the rock is literally paved with +flagstones; and these locks mount one above the other like the solitary +steps of a majestic stairway, and almost lay claim to be ranked among +the world’s wonders.</p> +<p>While the steamer passes through the successive barriers the passengers +have time to make an excursion to the falls of Trollhatten, which are +less remarkable for their elevation than for their flood of waters and +the picturesqueness of the surrounding scenery.</p> +<p>Beyond Trollhatten the stream expands to the proportions of a lake, +while a number of green and wooded islands divide it into several channels. +Thence it traverses the Lake of Wenner, which is ten or twelve miles +long, and proceeds onward through a country of no great interest, until +at Sjotorp it passes into the river again. A few miles further, +and it crosses the Vilkensoc, which, like all <!-- page 174--><a name="page174"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 174</span>the +other Swedish lakes, is charmingly studded with islands. It lies +three hundred and six feet above the level of the North Sea, and is +the culminating point of the canal, which thence descends through about +seventy locks, traversing the Bottensee and Lake Wetter.</p> +<p>After a tedious journey of five days, Madame Pfeiffer reached the +shores of the Baltic, which are finely indented by bays and rivers, +with long stretches of lofty cliff, and, inland, dense masses of fir +woods. Leaving the sea again, a short canal conducts the voyager +into Lake Mälar, celebrated for its cluster of islands. The +lake at first resembles a broad river, but soon widens to a great extent; +the beauty of the scenery never fails to excite the traveller’s +admiration. It is said that a thousand isles besprinkle its surface; +they are crowded together in the most picturesque and varied groups, +forming streams, and bays, and a chain of smaller lakes, and continually +revealing some new and attractive feature.</p> +<p>Not less charming the shores: sometimes the hills and mountains pass +close to the water, and their steep and rocky sides frown like thunder-smitten +ramparts; but generally the eye is delighted <!-- page 175--><a name="page175"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 175</span>by +a constant and brightly-coloured panorama of meadows, woods, and valleys, +villages, and sequestered farmhouses. On the summit of a steep +declivity a high pole is erected, to which hangs suspended the hat of +the unfortunate King Erik. It is said of him, that having fled +from the field of battle, he was here overtaken by one of his soldiers, +whose stern reproaches so stung him to the heart that he drove his spurs +into his horse’s sides, and clearing the precipice with a bound, +sank for ever beneath the waters of the lake. His hat, which fell +from his head as he made the plunge, is preserved as a memorial of a +king’s remorse.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>On arriving at Stockholm, several stalwart women offer us their services +as porters. They are Dalecarlians, who earn a livelihood by carrying +luggage or water, by rowing boats, and by resorting to other occupations +generally reserved for the stronger sex. Honest, industrious, +capable of immense fatigue, they never lack employment. They wear +short black petticoats, red bodices, white chemises with long sleeves, +short and narrow aprons of two colours, red stockings, and shoes with +thick wooden soles. Around their heads they generally bind a <!-- page 176--><a name="page176"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 176</span>handkerchief, +or else wear a very small black cap, which just covers the back of their +hair.</p> +<p>Stockholm proves, on examination, to be a handsome city, situated +at the junction of the Baltic with the Lake Mälar; or, more strictly +speaking, on the banks of a short canal which unites the two. +One of its most conspicuous buildings is the stately Ritterholm Church, +which Madame Pfeiffer describes as resembling rather a vault and an +armoury than a religious edifice. In the side chapels are enshrined +the monuments of dead Swedish kings, whose bones lie in the royal sepulchres +below. On both sides of the nave are ranged the equestrian statues +of armed knights; while from every vantage-point hang flags and standards. +The keys of captured towns and fortresses are suspended in the side +chapels, and drums and kettle-drums piled upon the floor—trophies +won from the enemies of Sweden in the days when she was a great European +power. The chapels also contain, enclosed in glass-cases, parts +of the dress and armour of some of the Swedish monarchs. We notice, +with keen interest, the uniform worn by Charles XII.—he</p> +<blockquote><p>“Who left a name at which the world grew pale, +<br /> +To point a moral or adorn a tale”—</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 177--><a name="page177"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 177</span>at +the time of his death, and the hat penetrated by the fatal shot that +slew the fiery warrior. A remarkable contrast is afforded by the +rich dress and plumed hat of Bernadotte, the French soldier of fortune, +who founded the present royal house.</p> +<p>The royal palace is a stately structure, and its interior is enriched +with the costliest decoration. The Ritter-house, the Museum of +Ancient Art, the Crown-Prince’s palace, the theatre, the bank, +the mint, are all deserving of inspection. In the vicinity a trip +may be made to the beautiful and diversified scenery of the Royal Park, +or the military school at Karlberg, or to the ancient royal castle of +Gripsholm on the Lake of Mälar.</p> +<p>But our last excursion must be directed, by way of Upsala, to the +iron-mines of Danemora.</p> +<p>The little village of Danemora is embosomed in woods. It contains +a small church and a few scattered houses of various dimensions. +The neighbourhood abounds in the usual indications of a mining locality. +Madame Pfeiffer arrived in what is called “the nick of time,” +and just opportunely, to witness the blasting of the ore. From +the wide opening of the largest mine it is possible to see what passes +below; and a strange and wonderful sight it <!-- page 178--><a name="page178"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 178</span>is +to peer down into the abyss, four hundred and eighty feet deep, and +observe the colossal entrances to the various pits, the rocky bridges, +the projections, arches, and caverns excavated in the solid rock. +The miners appear so many puppets; their movements can hardly be distinguished, +until the eye has grown accustomed to the darkness and to their diminutive +size.</p> +<p>At the given moment a match was applied to four trains of gunpowder. +The man who lighted them immediately sprang back, and hid himself behind +a wall of rock. In a minute or two came the flash; a few stones +were hurled into the air; and immediately afterwards was heard a loud +detonation, and the shattered mass fell in fragments all around. +Echo caught up the tremendous explosion, and carried it to the furthest +recesses of the mine; while, to enhance the terror of the scene, one +rock was hardly shivered before another crash was heard, and then a +third, and immediately afterwards a fourth.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page179.jpg"> +<img alt="Iron-mine of Danemora" src="images/page179.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>The other pits are still deeper, one of them being six hundred feet +beneath the ground; but as they are smaller in their openings, and as +the shafts are not always perpendicular, the gaze is soon lost in <!-- page 181--><a name="page181"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 181</span>the +obscurity, which produces a dismal effect upon the spectator. +The iron obtained from the Swedish mines is of excellent quality, and +large quantities are annually exported.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>Madame Pfeiffer now began her homeward journey, and, by way of Hamburg +and Berlin, proceeded to Dresden. Thence she returned to Vienna +on the 6th of October, after an absence of six months.</p> +<h2><!-- page 182--><a name="page182"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 182</span>CHAPTER +IV.—LAST TRAVELS.</h2> +<p>Madame Pfeiffer set out on what proved to be her final expedition, +on the 21st of May 1856. She proceeded to Berlin, thence to Amsterdam, +Leyden, Rotterdam; visited London and Paris; and afterwards undertook +the voyage to the Cape of Good Hope. Here she hesitated for a +while in what direction she should turn her adventurous steps before +she pushed forward to the goal of her hopes—Madagascar. +At length she decided on a visit to the Mauritius; and it is at this +part of her journey that we propose to take up her record.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page183.jpg"> +<img alt="Port Louis, Mauritius" src="images/page183.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>She saw much scenery in this rich and beautiful little island that +moved her to admiration. The volcanic mountains assume the boldest +and most romantic outlines. The vegetation is of the most <!-- page 185--><a name="page185"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 185</span>luxuriant +character. Each deep gorge or mountain-valley blooms with foliage; +and the slopes are clothed with stately trees, graceful shrubs, and +climbing plants; while shining streams fall from crag to crag in miniature +cascades. Of course Madame Pfeiffer visited the sugar-cane plantations, +which cover the broad and fertile plains of Pamplemousse. She +learned that the sugar-cane is not raised from seed, but that pieces +of cane are planted. The first cane requires eighteen months to +ripen; but as, meanwhile, the chief stem throws out shoots, each of +the following harvests can be gathered in at intervals of twelve months; +hence four crops can be obtained in four years and a half. After +the fourth harvest, the field must be cleared completely of the cane. +If the land be virgin soil, on which no former crop has been raised, +fresh slips of cane may be planted immediately, and thus eight crops +secured in nine years. But if such is not the case, “ambrezades” +must be planted—that is, a leafy plant, growing to the height +of eight or nine feet, the leaves of which, continually falling, decay +and fertilize the soil. After two years the plants are rooted +out, and the ground is once more occupied by a sugar plantation.</p> +<p>When the canes are ripe and the harvest begins, <!-- page 186--><a name="page186"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 186</span>every +day as many canes are cut down as can be pressed and boiled at once. +The cane is introduced between two rollers, set in motion by steam-power, +and pressed until it is quite flat and dry: in this state it is used +for fuel. The juice is strained successively into six pans, of +which the first is exposed to the greatest heat—the force of the +fire being diminished gradually under each of the others. In the +last pan the sugar is found half crystallized. It is then deposited +on great wooden tables to cool, and granulate into complete crystals +of about the size of a pin’s head. Lastly, it is poured +into wooden colanders, to filter it thoroughly of the molasses it still +contains. The whole process occupies eight or ten days. +Before the sugar is packed, it is spread out on the open terraces to +dry for some hours in the sun.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>An excursion was made to Mount Orgueil, in order to obtain a panoramic +view of the island-scenery. On one side the lofty ridge of the +Morne Brabant, connected with the mainland only by a narrow neck of +earth, stretches far out into the sapphire sea; near at hand rises the +Piton de la Rivière Noire, the loftiest summit in the island, +two <!-- page 187--><a name="page187"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 187</span>thousand +five hundred and sixty-four feet. In another direction are visible +the green tops of the Tamarin and the Rempart; and in a fourth, the +three-headed mountain called the Trois Mamelles. Contiguous to +these opens a deep caldron, two of the sides of which have broken down +in ruin, while the others remain erect and steep. Besides these +mountains, the traveller sees the Corps de Garde du Port Loris de Mocca; +Le Pouce, with its narrow peak projecting above the plateau like a thumb; +and the precipitous Peter Botte.</p> +<p>The last-named mountain recalls the memory of the daring Hollander +who first reached its summit, long regarded as impracticable. +He succeeded in what seemed a hopeless effort by shooting an arrow, +to which a strong cord was attached, over the top. The arrow fell +on the other side of the mountain, at a point which could be attained +without much difficulty. A stout rope was then fastened to the +cord, drawn over the mountain, and secured on both sides; and Peter +Botte hauled himself up by it to the topmost crest, and thus immortalized +his name. The ascent has since been accomplished by English travellers.</p> +<p>A trip was also undertaken to the Trou de Cerf, <!-- page 188--><a name="page188"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 188</span>or +“Stag’s Hole,” a crater of perfectly regular formation, +brimful of bloom and foliage. As no sign or mark betrays its whereabouts, +the traveller is seized with astonishment on suddenly reaching its brink. +His astonishment soon wears off, and he feels an intense delight in +contemplating the view before him. It comprises three-fourths +of the island: majestic mountains clothed in virgin forests almost to +their very crests; wide-spreading plains, green with the leafiness of +the sugar-cane plantations; cool verdurous valleys, where the drowsy +shadows softly rest; and beyond and around the blue sea with a fringe +of snow-white foam marking the indentations of the coast.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>On the 25th of April 1857 Madame Pfeiffer sailed for Madagascar, +and after a six-days’ voyage reached the harbour of Tamatavé.</p> +<p>Madagascar, the reader may be reminded, is, next to Borneo, the largest +island in the world. It is separated from the African mainland +by the Mozambique Channel, only seventy-five miles wide. It stretches +from lat. 12° to 25° S., and long. 40° to 48° E. +Its area is about ten thousand geographical square miles.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/page189.jpg"> +<img alt="The Traveller’s Tree" src="images/page189.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p><!-- page 191--><a name="page191"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 191</span>Madagascar +contains forests of immense extent, far-reaching plains and valleys, +rivers, lakes, and great chains of mountains, which raise their summits +to an elevation of ten or twelve thousand feet. The climate is +tropical, the vegetation remarkable for abundance and variety. +The chief products are gums and odoriferous balsams, sugar, tobacco, +maize, indigo, silk, spices. The woods yield many valuable kinds +of timber, and almost every fruit of the Torrid Zone, besides the curious +and useful Traveller’s Tree. Palms are found in dense and +beautiful groves; and among them is the exquisite water-palm, or lattice +leaf-plant. In the animal kingdom Madagascar possesses some remarkable +forms; as, for instance, the makis, or half-ape, and the black parrot. +The population consists of four distinct races: the Kaffirs, who inhabit +the south; the Negroes, who dwell in the west; the Arabs in the east; +and in the interior the Malays, among whom the Hovas are the most numerous +and the most civilized.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>Tamatavé, when visited by Madame Pfeiffer looked like a poor +but very large village, with between four and five thousand inhabitants. +Of late <!-- page 192--><a name="page192"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 192</span>years, +however, it has grown into a place of much commercial importance. +There are some decent houses; but the natives live chiefly in small +huts, which are scattered over a wide area, with scarcely any attempt +at regularity of arrangement. These huts are supported on piles +from six to ten feet high. They are built of wood or of bamboo, +thatched with long grass or palm-leaves; and they contain only one room, +of which the fireplace occupies a disproportionate share. Windows +are wanting, but light and air are admitted through two opposite doors.</p> +<p>The bazaar is situated in the middle of the village, on an irregular +piece of ground, and is distinguished alike by its dirt and poverty. +The articles exposed for sale are only a supply of beef, some sugar-cane, +rice, and a few fruits; and the whole stock of one of the dealers would +be dear at a couple of shillings. The oxen are slaughtered on +the spot, and their flesh sold in thick hunches, with the skin, which +is esteemed a great delicacy. Meat is not bought according to +weight, but the size of each piece is measured by the eye.</p> +<p>The Tamatavians are principally Malagasys; and, physically, their +appearance does not recommend <!-- page 193--><a name="page193"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 193</span>them. +They have wide mouths, with thick lips; their noses are broad and flat; +their chins protrude; their cheek-bones are disagreeably prominent. +Their complexion may be any shade of a muddy brown. Generally, +their teeth are regular, and very white; but against this redeeming +trait must be put their hideous hair, which is coal-black, very long, +very woolly, and very coarse. When worn in all its natural amplitude, +its effect is curiously disagreeable. The face seems lost in a +“boundless convexity” of thick frizzled hair, which stands +out in every direction. But, usually, the men cut their hair quite +short at the back of the head, leaving only a length of six or eight +inches in front, which stands upright, like a hedge of wool. Much +pride is felt in their “head of hair” by the women, and +even by some of the men; and, unwilling to shorten so ornamental an +appendage, they plait it into numerous little tails. Some coquettishly +allow these tails to droop all about their head; others twist them together +into a band or bunch, covering the top of the head like a cap. +No wonder that much time is spent in the preparation of so complex a +head-gear; but then, on the other hand, when once made up it will last +for several days.</p> +<p><!-- page 194--><a name="page194"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 194</span>Now +as to the costume of these interesting semi-savages. Their articles +of clothing are two in number—the <i>sadik</i> and the <i>simbre</i>. +The former, which by many natives is considered quite sufficient, is +a strip of cloth worn round the loins. The simbre is a piece of +white stuff, about four yards long and three broad, which is worn much +like a toga. As it is constantly coming loose, and every minute +needing adjustment, it is an exceedingly troublesome though not ungraceful +garment, keeping one hand of the wearer almost constantly employed.</p> +<p>Males and females wear the same attire, except that the latter indulge +in a little more drapery, and often add a third article—a short +tight jacket, called <i>kanezu</i>.</p> +<p>Simple as is the clothing of the Malagasy, their food is not less +simple. At every meal, rice and anana are the principal or only +dishes. Anana is a vegetable very much like spinach, of a by no +means disagreeable flavour in itself, but not savoury when cooked with +rancid fat. Fish is sometimes eaten, but not often—for indolence +is a great Malagasy quality—by those who dwell on the borders +of rivers or on the sea-shore; meat and poultry, though both are cheap, +are eaten only on special occasions. <!-- page 195--><a name="page195"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 195</span>The +natives partake of two meals—one in the morning, the other in +the evening.</p> +<p>The rice and anana are washed down with <i>ranugang</i>, or rice-water, +thus prepared: Rice is boiled in a vessel, and purposely burned, until +a crust forms at the bottom. The water is poured on, and allowed +to boil. The water in colour resembles pale coffee, and in taste +is abominable to a European palate. The natives, however, esteem +it highly, and not only drink the water, but eat the crust.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>One of the great ceremonies of Madagascar, the royal bath-feast, +is described by Madame Pfeiffer. It is celebrated on the Malagasy +New-Year’s Day, and has some curious features. On the eve, +all the high officers, nobles, and chiefs are invited to court; and +assembling in a great hall, partake of a dish of rice, which is handed +round to each guest with much solemnity that he may take a pinch with +his fingers and eat. Next day, all reassemble in the same place; +and the queen steps behind a curtain, which hangs in a corner of the +room, undresses, and submits to copious ablutions. Assuming her +clothes, she comes forward, holding in her hand an ox-horn that has +been filled with water from her bath; and this <!-- page 196--><a name="page196"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 196</span>she +sprinkles over the assembled company—reserving a portion for the +soldiers drawn up on parade beneath her window.</p> +<p>Throughout the country this day is an occasion of festivity, and +dancing, singing, and feasting are kept up till a late hour. Nor +does the revel end then; it is prolonged for eight days. The people +on the first day are accustomed to kill as many oxen as will supply +them with meat for the whole period; and no man who possesses a herd, +however small, fails to kill at least one for this annual celebration. +The poor exchange rice, and tobacco, and several potatoes, for pieces +of meat. These pieces are long thin strips; and being salted, +and laid one upon another, they keep tolerably well until the eighth +day.</p> +<p>Madame Pfeiffer had an opportunity of witnessing the dances, but +did not find them very interesting.</p> +<p>Some girls beat a little stick with all their might against a thick +stem of bamboo; while others sang, or rather howled, at their highest +and loudest pitch. Then two of the ebony beauties stepped forward, +and began to move slowly to and fro on a small space of ground, half +lifting their arms, and turning their hands, first outwards, and then +towards their <!-- page 197--><a name="page197"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 197</span>sides. +Next, one of the men made his <i>début</i>. He tripped +about much in the same style as the dusky <i>danseuses</i>, only with +greater energy; and each time he approached any of the women or girls, +he made gestures expressive of his love and admiration.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>Our traveller obtained permission to enter into the interior of the +island, and to visit Antananarivo, <a name="citation197"></a><a href="#footnote197">{197}</a> +the capital. As she approached it, she could see it picturesquely +planted on a high hill that rose out of the broad and fertile inland +plain; and after a pleasant journey through rich and beautiful scenery, +she came upon the suburbs, which enclose it on all sides.</p> +<p>The suburbs at first were villages; but they have gradually expanded +until they have been formed into a compact aggregate. Most of +the houses are built of earth or clay; but those belonging to the city +must, by royal decree, be constructed of planks, or at least of bamboo. +They are all of a larger size than the dwellings of the villagers; are +much cleaner, and kept in better condition. The roofs are very +high and steep, with long poles reared at each end by way of ornament. +Many houses, and <!-- page 198--><a name="page198"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 198</span>sometimes +groups of three or four houses, are surrounded by low ramparts of earth, +apparently for no other purpose than to separate the courtyards from +the neighbouring tenements. The streets and squares are all very +irregularly built: the houses are not placed in rows, but in clusters,—some +at the foot of the hill, others on its slopes. The royal palace +crowns the summit.</p> +<p>Madame Pfeiffer expressing her surprise at the number of lightning-conductors +that everywhere appeared, was informed that perhaps in no other part +of the world were thunderstorms so frequent or so fatal. She was +told that, at Antananarivo, about three hundred people were killed by +lightning every year.</p> +<p>The interior of the town was in appearance exactly like one of the +suburbs, except that the houses were built of planks or of bamboo.</p> +<p>At the time of Madame Pfeiffer’s visit, the sovereign of Madagascar +was Queen Ranavala, memorable for her sanguinary propensities, her hatred +of Europeans, and her persecution of the Christian converts. It +proves the extraordinary power of fascination which our traveller possessed, +that she obtained from this feminine despot so many <!-- page 199--><a name="page199"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 199</span>concessions—being +allowed to travel about the island with comparative freedom, and being +even admitted to the royal presence. The latter incident is thus +described:—</p> +<p>Towards four o’clock in the afternoon her bearers carried Madame +Pfeiffer to the palace, over the door of which a great gilded eagle +expands its wings. According to rule, in stepping across the threshold +the visitor put her right foot foremost; and this ceremony she also +observed on entering, through a second gateway, the spacious courtyard +in front of the palace. Here the queen was visible, being seated +on a balcony on the first story, and Madame Pfeiffer and her attendants +were directed to stand in a row in the courtyard opposite to her. +Under the balcony some soldiers were going through divers evolutions, +which concluded, comically enough, by suddenly lifting up the right +foot as if it had been stung by a wasp.</p> +<p>The queen was attired in a wide silk simbre, and wore on her head +a large golden crown. Though she sat in the shade, a very ample +umbrella of crimson silk—throughout the East a sign of royal dignity—was +held over her head. She was of rather dark complexion, strongly +and even sturdily <!-- page 200--><a name="page200"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 200</span>built, +and, though seventy-five years of age, remarkably healthy and active. +On her right stood her son, Prince Rakoto; and on her left, her adopted +son, Prince Ramboasalama. Behind her were gathered nephews, nieces, +and other relatives, and the dignitaries and grandees of her kingdom.</p> +<p>The minister who had conducted Madame Pfeiffer and her companion—M. +Lambert, a French adventurer, who played a conspicuous part in the affairs +of Madagascar—addressed a short speech to the queen; after which +the visitors had to bow thrice, and to repeat the words, “Esaratsara +tombokoc” (We salute you cordially); to which she replied, “Esaratsara” +(We salute you). They then turned to the left to salute King Radama’s +tomb, which was close at hand, with three similar bows; afterwards returning +to their former position in front of the balcony, and making three more. +M. Lambert next held up a gold piece of eighty francs value, and placed +it in the hands of the minister who had introduced them. This +gift, which is expected from every stranger when first presented, is +called “Monosina.” The queen then asked M. Lambert +if he wished to put any question to her, or if he needed anything, and +also addressed a remark or two to Madame Pfeiffer. <!-- page 201--><a name="page201"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 201</span>The +bowings and greetings were then resumed; obeisance was paid to King +Radama’s monument; and the visitors, as they retired, were again +cautioned not to put the left foot first over the threshold.</p> +<p>The royal palace is (or was) a very large timber building, consisting +of a ground-floor and two stories, surmounted by a singularly high-pitched +roof. Each story is surrounded by a broad gallery. The roof +is supported on wooden pillars, eighty feet high, and rises forty feet +above them, resting in the centre on a pillar not less than a hundred +and twenty feet in height. All these columns are fashioned each +from a single trunk; and when it is considered, says our authority, +that the forests containing trees of sufficient size for this purpose +lie fifty or sixty miles from the capital, that the roads are nowhere +paved, and in some places are quite impassable, and that all the pillars +are dragged to the capital without the help of a beast of burden or +any single machine, and are afterwards wrought and set up with the simplest +tools, the erection of this palace may justly be called a gigantic undertaking, +and the palace itself ranked among the wonders of the world.</p> +<p>The government of Madagascar has always been Draconian in its severity, +and the penalty exacted <!-- page 202--><a name="page202"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 202</span>for +almost every offence is blood. Some of the unfortunates are burned; +others are hurled over a high rock; others buried alive; others scalded +to death with boiling water; others killed with the spear; others sewn +up alive in mats, and left to perish of hunger and corruption; and others +beheaded. Recourse is not unfrequently had to poison, which is +used as a kind of ordeal or test. This is applicable to all classes; +and as any one may accuse another, on depositing a certain sum of money,—and +as, moreover, no accused person is allowed to defend himself,—the +ordeal does not fall into disrepute for want of use. If the accused +endures it without perishing, a third part of the deposit is awarded +to him, a third part goes to the court, and the remainder is returned +to the accuser. But if the accused die, his guilt is considered +to have been established, and the accuser receives back the whole of +his money.</p> +<p>The poisoning process takes place as follows:—</p> +<p>The material employed is obtained from the kernel of a fruit as large +as a peach, called the <i>Tanghinia venenifera</i>. The lampi-tanghini, +or person who administers the poison, announces to the accused the day +on which the perilous dose is <!-- page 203--><a name="page203"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 203</span>to +be swallowed. For eight-and-forty hours before the prescribed +time he is allowed to eat very little, and for the last twenty-four +hours nothing at all. His friends accompany him to the poisoner’s +house. There he undresses, and takes oath that he has had no recourse +to magic. The lampi-tanghini then scrapes away as much powder +from the kernel with a knife as he judges necessary for the trial. +Before administering the dose, he asks the accused if he confesses his +crime; which the accused never does, because under any circumstances +he would have to swallow the poison. The said poison is spread +upon three little pieces of skin, each about an inch in size, cut from +the back of a plump fowl. These he rolls together, and administers +to the supposed culprit.</p> +<p>“In former days,” says Madame Pfeiffer, “almost +every person who was subjected to this ordeal died in great agony; but +for the last ten years any one not condemned by the queen herself to +take the tanghin, is allowed to make use of the following antidote. +As soon as he has taken the poison, his friends make him drink rice-water +in such quantities that his whole body sometimes swells visibly, and +quick and violent vomiting is brought on. If the poisoned man +be fortunate enough to get rid not <!-- page 204--><a name="page204"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 204</span>only +of the poison, but of the three little skins (which latter must be returned +uninjured), he is declared innocent, and his relations carry him home +in triumph, with songs and rejoicings. But if one of the pieces +of skin should fail to reappear, or if it be at all injured, his life +is forfeited, and he is executed with the spear, or by some other means.” +<a name="citation204"></a><a href="#footnote204">{204}</a></p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>During Madame Pfeiffer’s stay at Antananarivo a conspiracy +broke out, provoked by the queen’s cruelty. It failed, however, +in its object; and those concerned in it were mercilessly punished. +The Christians became anew exposed to the suspicions and wrath of Ranavala; +and Madame Pfeiffer and her companions found themselves in a position +of great peril. The royal council debated vehemently the question, +Whether they should be put to death? and this being answered in the +affirmative, What death they should die? Happily, Prince Rakoto +interfered, pointing out that the murder of Europeans would not be allowed +to pass unavenged, but would bring down upon Madagascar the fleets and +armies of the great European powers. <!-- page 205--><a name="page205"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 205</span>This +argument finally prevailed; and Madame Pfeiffer and the other Europeans, +six in all, then in Antananarivo, were ordered to quit it immediately. +They were only too thankful to escape with their lives, and within an +hour were on their way to Tamatavé, escorted by seventy Malagasy +soldiers. They had good cause to congratulate themselves on their +escape, for on the very morning of their departure ten Christians had +been put to death with the most terrible tortures.</p> +<p>The journey to Tamatavé was not without its dangers and difficulties, +and Madame Pfeiffer, who had been attacked with fever, suffered severely. +The escort purposely delayed them on the road; so that, instead of reaching +the coast in eight days, the time actually occupied was three-and-fifty. +This was the more serious, because the road ran through low-lying and +malarious districts. In the most unhealthy spots, moreover, the +travellers were left in wretched huts for a whole week, or even two +weeks; and frequently, when Madame Pfeiffer was groaning in a violent +excess of fever, the brutal soldiers dragged her from her miserable +couch, and compelled her to continue her journey.</p> +<p>At length, on the 12th of September, she arrived <!-- page 206--><a name="page206"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 206</span>at +Tamatavé; broken-down and unutterably weary and worn, but still +alive. Ill as she was, she gladly embarked on board a ship which +was about to sail for the Mauritius; and reaching that pleasant island +on the 22nd, met with a hearty welcome from her friends—to whom, +indeed, she was as one who had been dead and was alive again.</p> +<p>The mental and physical sufferings she had undergone, combined with +the peculiar effects of the fever, now brought on an illness of so serious +a character that for long the doctors doubted whether her recovery was +possible. On her sixtieth birthday, the 14th of October, they +pronounced the brave lady out of danger; but, in fact, her constitution +had received a fatal shock. The fever became intermittent in its +attacks, but it never wholly left her; though she continued, with unabated +energy and liveliness, to lay down plans for fresh expeditions. +She had made all her preparations for a voyage to Australia, when a +return of her disease, in February 1858, compelled her to renounce her +intention, and to direct her steps homeward.</p> +<p>Early in the month of June she arrived in London, where she remained +for a few weeks. Thence she repaired to Berlin.</p> +<p><!-- page 207--><a name="page207"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 207</span>Her +strength was now declining day by day, though at first she seemed to +regard her illness as only temporary, and against the increasing physical +weakness her mind struggled with its usual activity. About September, +she evinced a keen anxiety to behold her home once more,—evidently +having arrived at a conviction that her end was near. She was +carefully conveyed to Vienna, and received into the house of her brother, +Charles Reyer; where, at first, the influence of her native air had +an invigorating effect. This gave way after a week or two, and +her illness returned with augmented force. During the last days +of her life, opiates were administered to relieve her sufferings; and +in the night between the 27th and 28th of October she passed away peacefully, +and apparently without pain,—leaving behind her the memory of +a woman of matchless intrepidity, surprising energy, and heroic fixity +of purpose.</p> +<h2>NOTES.</h2> +<p><a name="footnote105"></a><a href="#citation105">{105}</a> Since +Madame Pfeiffer’s time this mode of self-torture has been prohibited +by the British Government.</p> +<p><a name="footnote197"></a><a href="#citation197">{197}</a> That is, +the “City of a Thousand Towns.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote204"></a><a href="#citation204">{204}</a> We give +Madame Pfeiffer’s account, as an illustration of the old ways +of Madagascar society. But the poison-ordeal has of late been +abandoned, owing to Christian influence.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF IDA PFEIFFER***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 18037-h.htm or 18037-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/0/3/18037 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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b/18037-h/images/page95.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ed8d16 --- /dev/null +++ b/18037-h/images/page95.jpg diff --git a/18037-h/images/page99.jpg b/18037-h/images/page99.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9adbff1 --- /dev/null +++ b/18037-h/images/page99.jpg diff --git a/18037.txt b/18037.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9dc8a5b --- /dev/null +++ b/18037.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3457 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Story of Ida Pfeiffer, by Anonymous + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Story of Ida Pfeiffer + and Her Travels in Many Lands + + +Author: Anonymous + + + +Release Date: March 22, 2006 [eBook #18037] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF IDA PFEIFFER*** + + + + + +This eBook was prepared by Les Bowler. + + + + + +THE STORY OF IDA PFEIFFER +And Her Travels in Many Lands. + + +[Queen Pomare's Palace, Tahiti: page4.jpg] + +"I'll put a girdle round the world."--SHAKESPEARE. + +LONDON: THOMAS NELSON AND SONS. + +EDINBURGH AND NEW YORK. +1879. + +CONTENTS. + +I. HER BIOGRAPHY. + +II. JOURNEY ROUND THE WORLD. + +III. NORTHWARD. + +IV. LAST TRAVELS. + + + + +CHAPTER I.--HER BIOGRAPHY. + + +Ida Pfeiffer, the celebrated traveller, was born in Vienna on the 14th of +October 1797. She was the third child of a well-to-do merchant, named +Reyer; and at an early age gave indications of an original and +self-possessed character. The only girl in a family of six children, her +predilections were favoured by the circumstances which surrounded her. +She was bold, enterprising, fond of sport and exercise; loved to dress +like her brothers, and to share in their escapades. Dolls she +contemptuously put aside, preferring drums; and a sword or a gun was +valued at much more than a doll's house. In some respects her father +brought her up strictly; she was fed, like her brothers, on a simple and +even meagre diet, and trained to habits of prompt obedience; but he did +nothing to discourage her taste for more violent exercises than are +commonly permitted to young girls. + +She was only in her tenth year, however, when he died; and she then +passed naturally enough under the maternal control. Between her own +inclinations and her mother's ideas of maidenly culture a great contest +immediately arose. Her mother could not understand why her daughter +should prefer the violin to the piano, and the masculine trousers to the +feminine petticoat. In fact, she did not understand Ida, and it may be +assumed that Ida did not understand her. + +In 1809 Vienna was captured by the French army under Napoleon; a disgrace +which the brave and spirited Ida felt most keenly. Some of the +victorious troops were quartered in the house of her mother, who thought +it politic to treat them with courtesy; but her daughter neither could +nor would repress her dislike. When compelled to be present at a grand +review which Napoleon held in Schonbrunn, she turned her back as the +emperor rode past. For this hazardous manoeuvre she was summarily +punished; and to prevent her from repeating it when the emperor returned, +her mother held her by the shoulders. This was of little avail, however, +as Ida perseveringly persisted in keeping her eyes shut. + +At the age of thirteen she was induced to resume the garb of her sex, +though it was some time before she could accustom her wild free movements +to it. She was then placed in charge of a tutor, who seems to have +behaved to her with equal skill and delicacy. "He showed," she says, +"great patience and perseverance in combating my overstrained and +misdirected notions. As I had learned to fear my parents rather than +love them, and this gentleman was, so to speak, the first human being who +had displayed any sympathy and affection for me, I clung to him in return +with enthusiastic attachment, desirous of fulfilling his every wish, and +never so happy as when he appeared satisfied with my exertions. He took +the entire charge of my education, and though it cost me some tears to +abandon my youthful visions, and engage in pursuits I had hitherto +regarded with contempt, to all this I submitted out of my affection for +him. I even learned many feminine avocations, such as sewing, knitting, +and cookery. To him I owed the insight I obtained into the duties and +true position of my sex; and it was he who transformed me from a romp and +a hoyden into a modest quiet girl." + +Already a great longing for travel had entered into her mind. She longed +to see new scenes, new peoples, new manners and customs. She read +eagerly every book of travel that fell into her hands; followed with +profound interest the career of every adventurous explorer, and blamed +her sex that prevented her from following their heroic examples. For a +while a change was effected in the current of her thoughts by a strong +attachment which sprung up between her and her teacher, who by this time +had given up his former profession, and had obtained an honourable +position in the civil service. It was natural enough that in the close +intimacy which existed between them such an affection should be +developed. Ida's mother, however, regarded it with grave disapproval, +and exacted from the unfortunate girl a promise that she would neither +see nor write to her humble suitor again. The result was a dangerous +illness: on her recovery from which her mother insisted on her accepting +for a husband Dr. Pfeiffer, a widower, with a grown-up son, but an +opulent and distinguished advocate in Lemberg, who was then on a visit to +Vienna. Though twenty-four years older than Ida, he was attracted by her +grace and simplicity, and offered his hand. Weary of home persecutions, +Ida accepted it, and the marriage took place on May 1st, 1820. + +If she did not love her husband, she respected him, and their married +life was not unhappy. In a few months, however, her husband's integrity +led to a sad change of fortune. He had fully and fearlessly exposed the +corruption of the Austrian officials in Galicia, and had thus made many +enemies. He was compelled to give up his office as councillor, and, +deprived of his lucrative practice, to remove to Vienna in search of +employment. Through the treachery of a friend, Ida's fortune was lost, +and the ill-fated couple found themselves reduced to the most painful +exigencies. Vienna, Lemberg, Vienna again, Switzerland, everywhere Dr. +Pfeiffer sought work, and everywhere found himself baffled by some +malignant influence. "Heaven only knows," says Madame Pfeiffer in her +autobiography, "what I suffered during eighteen years of my married life; +not, indeed, from any ill-treatment on my husband's part, but from +poverty and want. I came of a wealthy family, and had been accustomed +from my earliest youth to order and comfort; and now I frequently knew +not where I should lay my head, or find a little money to buy the +commonest necessaries. I performed household drudgery, and endured cold +and hunger; I worked secretly for money, and gave lessons in drawing and +music; and yet, in spite of all my exertions, there were many days when I +could hardly put anything but dry bread before my poor children for their +dinner." These children were two sons, whose education their mother +entirely undertook, until, after old Madame Reyer's death in 1837, she +succeeded to an inheritance, which lifted the little family out of the +slough of poverty, and enabled her to provide her sons with good +teachers. + +[Beirut and mountains of Lebanon: page15.jpg] + +As they grew up and engaged successfully in professional pursuits, Madame +Pfeiffer, who had lost her husband in 1838, found herself once more under +the spell of her old passion for travel, and in a position to gratify her +adventurous inclinations. Her means were somewhat limited, it is true, +for she had done much for her husband and her children; but economy was +natural to her, and she retained the simple habits she had acquired in +her childhood. She was strong, healthy, courageous, and accomplished; +and at length, after maturing her plans with anxious consideration, she +took up her pilgrim's staff, and sallied forth alone. + +Her first object was to visit the Holy Land, and tread in the hallowed +footsteps of our Lord. For this purpose she left Vienna on the 22nd of +March 1842, and embarked on board the steamer that was to convey her down +the Danube to the Black Sea and the city of Constantinople. Thence she +repaired to Broussa, Beirut, Jaffa, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, Nazareth, +Damascus, Baalbek, the Lebanon, Alexandria, and Cairo; and travelled +across the sandy Desert to the Isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea. From +Egypt the adventurous lady returned home by way of Sicily and Italy, +visiting Naples, Rome, and Florence, and arriving in Vienna in December +1842. In the following year she published the record of her experiences +under the title of a "Journey of a Viennese Lady to the Holy Land." It +met with a very favourable reception, to which the simplicity of its +style and the faithfulness of its descriptions fully entitled it. + +With the profits of this book to swell her funds, Madame Pfeiffer felt +emboldened to undertake a new expedition; and this time she resolved on a +northern pilgrimage, expecting in _Ultima Thule_ to see nature manifested +on a novel and surprising scale. She began her journey to Iceland on the +10th of April 1845, and returned to Vienna on the 4th of October. Her +narrative of this second voyage will be found, necessarily much abridged +and condensed, in the following pages. + +What should she do next? Success had increased her courage and +strengthened her resolution, and she could think of nothing fit for her +energies and sufficient for her curiosity but a voyage round the world! +She argued that greater privations and fatigue than she had endured in +Syria and Iceland she could scarcely be called upon to encounter. The +outlay did not frighten her; for she had learned by experience how little +is required, if the traveller will but practise the strictest economy and +resolutely forego many comforts and all superfluities. Her savings +amounted to a sum insufficient, perhaps, for such travellers as Prince +Puckler-Muskau, Chateaubriand, or Lamartine for a fortnight's excursion; +but for a woman who wanted to see much, but cared for no personal +indulgence, it seemed enough to last during a journey of two or three +years. And so it proved. + +The heroic woman set out alone on the 1st of May 1846, and proceeded +first to Rio Janeiro. On the 3rd of February 1847, she sailed round Cape +Horn, and on the 2nd of March landed at Valparaiso. Thence she traversed +the broad Pacific to Tahiti, where she was presented to Queen Pomare. In +the beginning of July we find her at Macao; afterwards she visited Hong +Kong and Canton, where the appearance of a white woman produced a +remarkable and rather disagreeable sensation. By way of Singapore she +proceeded to Ceylon, which she carefully explored, making excursions to +Colombo, Candy, and the famous temple of Dagoba. Towards the end of +October she landed at Madras, and thence went on to Calcutta, ascending +the Ganges to the holy city of Benares, and striking across the country +to Bombay. Late in the month of April 1848 she sailed for Persia, and +from Bushire traversed the interior as far as legend-haunted Bagdad. +After a pilgrimage to the ruins of Ctesiphon and Babylon, this bold lady +accompanied a caravan through the dreary desert to Mosul and the vast +ruins of Nineveh, and afterwards to the salt lake of Urumiyeh and the +city of Tabreez. It is certain that no woman ever accomplished a more +daring exploit! The mental as well as physical energy required was +enormous; and only a strong mind and a strong frame could have endured +the many hardships consequent on her undertaking--the burning heat by +day, the inconveniences of every kind at night, the perils incidental to +her sex, meagre fare, a filthy couch, and constant apprehension of attack +by robber bands. The English consul at Tabreez, when she introduced +herself to him, found it hard to believe that a woman could have +accomplished such an enterprise. + +At Tabreez, Madame Pfeiffer was presented to the Viceroy, and obtained +permission to visit his harem. On August 11th, 1848, she resumed her +journey, crossing Armenia, Georgia, and Mingrelia; she touched afterwards +at Anapa, Kertch, and Sebastopol, landed at Odessa, and returned home by +way of Constantinople, Greece, the Ionian Islands, and Trieste, arriving +in Vienna on the 4th of November 1848, just after the city had been +recaptured from the rebels by the troops of Prince Windischgratz. + +[Constantinople: page21.jpg] + +Ida Pfeiffer was now a woman of note. Her name was known in every +civilized country; and it was not unnatural that great celebrity should +attach to a female who, alone, and without the protection of rank or +official recommendation, had travelled 2800 miles by land, and 35,000 +miles by sea. Hence, her next work, "A Woman's Journey Round the World," +was most favourably received, and translated both into French and +English. A summary of it is included in our little volume. + +The brave adventurer at first, on her return home, spoke of her +travelling days as over, and, at the age of fifty-four, as desirous of +peace and rest. But this tranquil frame of mind was of very brief +duration. Her love of action and thirst of novelty could not long be +repressed; and as she felt herself still strong and healthy, with +energies as quick and lively as ever, she resolved on a second circuit of +the globe. Her funds having been increased by a grant of 1500 florins +from the Austrian Government, she left Vienna on the 18th of March 1851, +proceeded to London, and thence to Cape Town, where she arrived on the +11th of August. For a while she hesitated between a visit to the +interior of Africa and a voyage to Australia; but at last she sailed to +Singapore, and determined to explore the East Indian Archipelago. At +Sarawak, the British settlement in Borneo, she was warmly welcomed by Sir +James Brooke, a man of heroic temper and unusual capacities for command +and organization. She adventured among the Dyaks, and journeyed westward +to Pontianak, and the diamond mines of Landak. We next meet with her in +Java, and afterwards in Sumatra, where she boldly trusted herself among +the cannibal Battas, who had hitherto resented the intrusion of any +European. Returning to Java, she saw almost all that it had of natural +wonders or natural beauties; and then departed on a tour through the +Sunda Islands and the Moluccas, visiting Banda, Amboyna, Ceram, Ternate, +and Celebes. + +For a second time she traversed the Pacific, but on this occasion in an +opposite direction. For two months she saw no land; but on the 27th +September 1853 she arrived at San Francisco. At the close of the year +she sailed for Callao. Thence she repaired to Lima, with the intention +of crossing the Andes, and pushing eastward, through the interior of +South America, to the Brazilian coast. A revolution in Peru, however, +compelled her to change her course, and she returned to Ecuador, which +served as a starting-point for her ascent of the Cordilleras. After +having the good fortune to witness an eruption of Cotopaxi, she retraced +her steps to the west. In the neighbourhood of Guayaquil she had two +very narrow escapes: one, by a fall from her mule; and next, by an +immersion in the River Guaya, which teems with alligators. Meeting with +neither courtesy nor help from the Spanish Americans--a superstitious, +ignorant, and degraded race--she gladly set sail for Panama. + +At the end of May she crossed the Isthmus, and sailed to New Orleans. +Thence she ascended the Mississippi to Napoleon, and the Arkansas to Fort +Smith. After suffering from a severe attack of fever, she made her way +to St. Louis, and then directed her steps northward to St. Paul, the +Falls of St. Antony, Chicago, and thence to the great Lakes and "mighty +Niagara." After an excursion into Canada, she visited New York, Boston, +and other great cities, crossed the Atlantic, and arrived in England on +the 21st of November 1854. Two years later she published a narrative of +her adventures, entitled "My Second Journey Round the World." + +Madame Pfeiffer's last voyage was to Madagascar, and will be found +described in the closing chapter of this little volume. In Madagascar +she contracted a dangerous illness, from which she temporarily recovered; +but on her return to Europe it was evident that her constitution had +received a severe blow. She gradually grew weaker. Her disease proved +to be cancer of the liver, and the physicians pronounced it incurable. +After lingering a few weeks in much pain, she passed away on the night of +the 27th of October 1858, in the sixty-third year of her age. + +* * * * * + +This remarkable woman is described as of short stature, thin, and +slightly bent. Her movements were deliberate and measured. She was well- +knit and of considerable physical energy, and her career proves her to +have been possessed of no ordinary powers of endurance. The reader might +probably suppose that she was what is commonly known as a strong-minded +woman. The epithet would suit her if seriously applied, for she had +undoubtedly a clear, strong intellect, a cool judgment, and a resolute +purpose; but it would be thoroughly inapplicable in the satirical sense +in which it is commonly used. There was nothing masculine about her. On +the contrary, she was so reserved and so unassuming that it required an +intimate knowledge of her to fathom the depths of her acquirements and +experience. "In her whole appearance and manner," we are told, "was a +staidness that seemed to indicate the practical housewife, with no +thought soaring beyond her domestic concerns." + +This quiet, silent woman, travelled nearly 20,000 miles by land and +150,000 miles by sea; visiting regions which no European had previously +penetrated, or where the bravest men had found it difficult to make their +way; undergoing a variety of severe experiences; opening up numerous +novel and surprising scenes; and doing all this with the scantiest means, +and unassisted by powerful protection or royal patronage. We doubt +whether the entire round of human enterprise presents anything more +remarkable or more admirable. And it would be unfair to suppose that she +was actuated only by a feminine curiosity. Her leading motive was a +thirst for knowledge. At all events, if she had a passion for +travelling, it must be admitted that her qualifications as a traveller +were unusual. Her observation was quick and accurate; her perseverance +was indefatigable; her courage never faltered; while she possessed a +peculiar talent for first awakening, and then profiting by, the interest +and sympathy of those with whom she came in contact. + +To assert that her travels were wholly without scientific value would be +unjust; Humboldt and Carl Ritter were of a different opinion. She made +her way into regions which had never before been trodden by European +foot; and the very fact of her sex was a frequent protection in her most +dangerous undertakings. She was allowed to enter many places which would +have been rigorously barred against male travellers. Consequently, her +communications have the merit of embodying many new facts in geography +and ethnology, and of correcting numerous popular errors. Science +derived much benefit also from her valuable collections of plants, +animals, and minerals. + +We conclude with the eulogium pronounced by an anonymous +biographer:--"Straightforward in character, and endued with high +principle, she possessed, moreover, a wisdom and a promptitude in action +seldom equalled among her sex. Ida Pfeiffer may, indeed, justly be +classed among those women who richly compensate for the absence of +outward charms by their remarkable energy and the rare qualities of their +minds." + +[Rio Janeiro: page29.jpg] + + + + +CHAPTER II.--JOURNEY ROUND THE WORLD. + + +Prompted by a boundless thirst for knowledge and an insatiable desire to +see new places and new things, Madame Pfeiffer left Vienna on the 1st of +May 1846, and proceeded to Hamburg, where she embarked on board a Danish +brig, the _Caroline_, for Rio Janeiro. As the voyage was divested of +romantic incidents, we shall land the reader without delay at the great +sea-port of the Brazilian empire. + +The traveller's description of it is not very favourably coloured. The +streets are dirty, and the houses, even the public buildings, +insignificant. The Imperial Palace has not the slightest architectural +pretensions. The finest square is the Largo do Roico, but this would not +be admitted into Belgravia. It is impossible to speak in high terms even +of the churches, the interior of which is not less disappointing than +their exterior. And as is the town, so are the inhabitants. Negroes and +mulattoes do not make up attractive pictures. Some of the Brazilian and +Portuguese women, however, have handsome and expressive countenances. + +Most writers indulge in glowing descriptions of the scenery and climate +of the Brazils; of the cloudless, radiant sky, and the magic of the never- +ending spring. Madame Ida Pfeiffer admits that the vegetation is richer, +and the soil more fruitful, and nature more exuberantly active than in +any other part of the world; but still, she says, it must not be thought +that all is good and beautiful, and that there is nothing to weaken the +powerful effect of the first impression. The constant blaze of colour +after a while begins to weary; the eye wants rest; the monotony of the +verdure oppresses; and we begin to understand that the true loveliness of +spring is only rightly appreciated when it succeeds the harsher aspects +of winter. + +[Invasion of Ants: page33.jpg] + +Europeans suffer much from the climate. The moisture is very +considerable, and renders the heat, which in the hot months rises to 99 +degrees in the shade, and 122 degrees in the sun, more difficult to bear. +Fogs and mists are disagreeably common; and whole tracts of country are +often veiled by an impenetrable mist. + +The Brazils suffer, too, from a plague of insects,--from mosquitoes, +ants, baraten, and sand-fleas; against the attacks of which the traveller +finds it difficult to defend himself. The ants often appear in trains of +immeasurable length, and pursue their march over every obstacle that +stands in the way. Madame Pfeiffer, during her residence at a friend's +house, beheld the advance of a swarm of this description. It was really +interesting to see what a regular line they formed; nothing could make +them deviate from the direction on which they had first determined. +Madame Geiger, her friend, told her she was awakened one night by a +terrible itching: she sprang out of bed immediately, and lo, a swarm of +ants were passing over it! There is no remedy for the infliction, except +to wait, with as much patience as one can muster, for the end of the +procession, which frequently lasts four to six hours. It is possible, to +some extent, to protect provisions against their attacks, by placing the +legs of the tables in basins filled with water. Clothes and linen are +enclosed in tightly-fitting tin canisters. + +The worst plague of all, however, are the sand-fleas, which attach +themselves to one's toes, underneath the nail, or sometimes to the soles +of the feet. When a person feels an irritation in these parts, he must +immediately look at the place; and if he discern a tiny black point, +surrounded by a small white ring, the former is the _chigoe_, or sand- +flea, and the latter the eggs which it has deposited in the flesh. The +first thing to be done is to loosen the skin all round as far as the +white skin is visible; the whole deposit is then extracted, and a little +snuff strewn in the empty space. The blacks perform this operation with +considerable skill. + +Rich as the Brazils are in natural productions, they are wanting in many +articles which Europeans regard as of the first importance. There are +sugar and coffee, it is true; but no corn, no potatoes, and none of our +delightful varieties of fruit. The flour of manioc, obtained from the +cassava plant, which forms a staple portion of almost every dish, +supplies the place of bread, but is far from being so nutritious and +strengthening; while the different kinds of sweet-tasting roots are far +inferior in value to our potato. The only fruit which Madame Pfeiffer +thought really excellent, were the oranges, bananas, and mangoes. The +pine-apples are neither very sweet nor very fragrant. And with regard to +two most important articles of consumption, the milk is very watery, and +the meat very dry. + +* * * * * + +Our traveller, during her sojourn at Rio Janeiro, made many interesting +excursions in the neighbourhood. One was directed to Petropolis, a +colony founded by Germans in the heart of scenery of the most exquisite +character. Accompanied by Count Berchthold, she sailed for Porto +d'Estrella in one of the regular coasting barks. Their course carried +them across a bay remarkable for its picturesque views. It lies calmly +in the embrace of richly-wooded hills, and is studded with islands, like +a silver shield with emerald bosses. Some of these islands are +completely overgrown with palms, while others are masses of huge rock, +with a carpet of green turf. + +Their bark was manned by four negroes and a white skipper. At first they +ran merrily before a favourable wind, but in two hours the crew were +compelled to take to the oars, the method of using which was exceedingly +fatiguing. At each dip of the oar, the rower mounts upon a bench in +front of him, and then, during the stroke, throws himself off again, with +his full force. In two hours more they passed into the river Geromerino, +and made their way through a world of beautiful aquatic plants which +covered the tranquil waters in every direction. The river banks are +flat, and fringed with underwood and young trees; the background is +formed by ranges of low green hills. + +At Porto d'Estrella, Madame Pfeiffer and her companion landed, and +proceeded on foot towards Petropolis. The first eight miles lay through +a broad valley, clothed with dense brambles and young trees, and shadowed +by lofty mountains. The wild pine-apples by the roadside were very fair +to see; they were not quite ripe, but tinted of the most delicate red. +Beautiful humming-birds flashed through the air like "winged jewels," and +studded the dense foliage with points of many-coloured light. + +After passing through the valley, they reached the Sierra, as the +Brazilians term the practicable mountain-summits. It was three thousand +feet in height, and was ascended by a broad paved road, striking through +the depths of virgin forests. + +Madame Pfeiffer had always imagined that the trees in virgin forests had +very thick and lofty trunks; but such was not the case here; probably +because the vegetation was too luxuriant, and the larger trunks have the +life crushed out of them by masses of smaller trees, bushes, creepers, +and parasites. + +Frequent truppas, or teams of ten mules driven by a negro, as well as +numerous pedestrians, enlivened the path, and prevented our travellers +from observing that their steps were persistently followed up by a negro. +When, however, they arrived at a somewhat lonely spot, this negro +suddenly sprang forward, holding a lasso in one hand and a long knife in +the other, and with threatening gestures gave them to understand that he +intended to murder them, and then drag their dead bodies into the forest! + +The travellers were without arms, having been told the road was perfectly +safe; their only weapons were their umbrellas, with the exception of a +clasp-knife. This the brave woman drew from her pocket and opened, in +the calm resolution to sell her life as dearly as possible. With their +umbrellas they parried their adversary's blows as long as they could; but +he caught hold of Madame Ida's, which snapped off, leaving only a piece +of the handle in her hand. In the struggle, however, he dropped his +knife, which rolled a few steps away from him. Madame Ida immediately +made a dash at it, and thought she had secured it; but, quicker in his +movements than she was, he thrust her away with his hands and feet, and +once more obtained possession of it. Waving it furiously over his head, +he slashed her twice in the upper part of the left arm. All seemed lost; +but in her extreme peril the brave lady bethought her of her own knife, +and struck at her adversary, wounding him in the hand. At the same +moment Count Berchthold sprang forward, and while he seized the villain +with both arms, Madame Ida Pfeiffer recovered her feet. All this took +place in less than a minute. The negro was now roused into a condition +of maniacal fury; he gnashed his teeth like a wild beast, and brandished +his knife, while uttering fearful threats. The issue of the contest +would probably have been disastrous, but for the opportune arrival of +assistance. Hearing the tramp of horses' hoofs upon the road, the negro +desisted from his attack, and sprang into the forest. A couple of +horsemen turning the corner of the road, our travellers hurried to meet +them; and having told their tale, which, indeed, their wounds told +eloquently enough, they leaped from their horses, and entered the wood in +pursuit. A couple of negroes soon afterwards coming up, the villain was +captured, securely pinioned, and, as he would not walk, severely beaten, +until, as most of the blows fell upon his head, Madame Ida Pfeiffer +feared that the wretch's skull would be broken. Nothing, however, would +induce him to walk, and the negroes were compelled to carry him bodily, +to the nearest house. + +The colony of Petropolis proved to be situated in the depth of a virgin +forest, at an elevation of 2500 feet above the sea-level. At the time of +Madame Pfeiffer's visit it was about fourteen months old, having been +founded for the special purpose of providing the capital with fruits and +vegetables which, in tropical climates, will thrive only in very elevated +situations. It was, of course, in a very rudimentary condition, the mere +embryo of a town; but the country around it was very picturesque. + +* * * * * + +Madame Pfeiffer's second excursion was into the interior; and it opened +up to her a variety of interesting scenes,--as, for instance, a manioc- +fazenda, or plantation. The manioc plant, it appears, throws off stalks +from four to six feet in height, with a number of large leaves at their +upper extremities. The valuable portion of the plant is its bulbous +root, which frequently weighs two or three pounds, and supplies the place +of corn throughout the Brazils. It is washed, peeled, and held against +the rough edge of a mill-stone, until it is completely ground into flour. +This flour is collected in a basket, steeped thoroughly in water, and +afterwards pressed quite dry by means of a press. Lastly, it is +scattered upon large iron plates, and slowly dried over a gentle fire. At +this stage it resembles a very coarse kind of flour, and is eaten in two +ways;--either mixed with hot water, until it forms a kind of porridge; or +baked in the form of coarse flour, which is handed round at table in +little baskets. + +She also saw a coffee plantation. The coffee-trees stand in rows upon +tolerably steep hillocks. Their height ranges from six feet to twelve; +and they begin to bear sometimes as early as the second, but in no case +later than the third year. They are productive for at least ten years. +The leaf is long and slightly serrated, and the flower white; while the +fruit hangs down like a cluster of grapes, and resembles a large cherry, +which varies from green to red, then to brown, and almost black. While +red, the outer shell is soft; but eventually it becomes perfectly hard, +until it may be compared to a wooden capsule. Blossoms and ripe fruit +are found on the same tree at the same time; so that a crop may be +gathered at almost any season of the year. After the berries are +plucked, they are spread out in spacious areas enclosed by a wall about +twelve feet high, with small drains to carry off the rain-water. Here +the coffee is allowed to dry in the heat of the sun, and it is then +shaken into large stone mortars, where it is lightly pounded with wooden +hammers, set in motion by water power. The whole mass falls into wooden +boxes attached to a long table, at which sit the negro workers, who +separate the coffee from the husk, and put it into flat copper pans. In +these it is carefully and skilfully turned about over a slow fire, until +desiccation is complete. On the whole, says Madame Ida Pfeiffer, the +preparation of the coffee is not laborious, and the harvest much more +easily gathered than one of corn. The negro, while plucking the coffee, +stands erect, and the tree protects him from the heat of the sun. His +only danger is from poisonous snakes, and a sting from one of these is a +very rare occurrence. + +Another novelty which much impressed our traveller was the sight of the +frequent burning forests. These are set on fire in order to clear the +ground for cultivation. In most cases she viewed the tremendous +spectacle from a distance; but one day she realized it in all its +details, as her road lay between a wood in flames on the one hand, and +the brushwood, crackling and seething, on the other. The space between +the double rows of fire did not exceed fifty paces in breadth, and was +completely buried in smoke. The spluttering and hissing of the fire was +distinctly audible, and through the dense mass of vapour shot upward +thick shafts and tongues of flame, while now and then the large trees +crashed to the ground, with loud reports, like those of artillery. + +[A Forest of Fire: page45.jpg] + +"On seeing my guide enter this fiery gulf," says our traveller, "I was, I +must confess, rather frightened;" and her dread was surely very +excusable. She plucked up courage, however, when she saw that her guide +pushed forward. On the threshold, so to speak, sat two negroes, to +indicate the safe, and, in truth, the only path. The guide, in obedience +to their warning, spurred on his mule, and, followed by Madame Pfeiffer, +galloped at full speed across the desert of fire. Flames to the right of +them, flames to the left of them, onward they dashed, and happily +effected the passage in safety. + +* * * * * + +Madame Pfeiffer gives a bright description of the beauties of the road as +she pushed further into the interior. Crossing a small waterfall, she +struck right into the depths of the virgin forest, pursuing a narrow path +which ran along the bank of a little stream. Palms, with their lordly +crests, soared high above the other trees, which, intertwined by +inextricable boughs, formed the loveliest fairy-bowers imaginable; every +stem, every branch was luxuriously festooned with fantastic orchids; +while creepers and ferns glided up the tall, smooth trunks, mingling with +the boughs, and hanging in every direction waving curtains of flowers, of +the sweetest odours and the most vivid colours. With shrill twittering +cry and rapid wings flashed the humming-bird from bough to bough; the +pepper-pecker, with glowing plumage, soared timorously upwards; while +parrots and paroquets, and innumerable birds of beautiful appearance, +added, by their cries and motions, to the liveliness of the scene. + +Madame Pfeiffer visited an Indian village. It lay deep in the forest +recesses, and consisted of five huts, or rather sheds, formed of leaves, +and measuring eighteen feet by twelve feet, erected under lofty trees. +The frames were formed of four poles stuck in the ground, with another +reaching across; and the roof was wrought of palm-leaves, by no means +impervious to the rain. The sides were open. In the interior hung a +hammock or two; and on the earth a few roots, Indian corn, and bananas +were roasting under a heap of ashes. In one corner, under the roof, a +small supply of provisions was hoarded up, and round about were scattered +a few gourds; these are used by the Puris as substitutes for "crockery." +Their weapons, the long bows and arrows, leaned against the wall. + +Madame Pfeiffer describes the Puri Indians as even uglier than the +negroes. Their complexion is a light bronze; they are stunted in +stature, well-knit, and about the middle size. Their features are broad +and somewhat compressed; their hair is thick, long, and of a coal-black +colour. The men wear it hanging straight down; the women, in plaits +fastened to the back of the head, and sometimes falling loosely down +about their persons. Their forehead is broad and low, and the nose +somewhat flattened; the eyes are long and narrow, almost like those of +the Chinese; and the mouth is large, with rather thick lips. To enhance +the effect of these various charms, the countenance bears a peculiar look +of stupidity, which may be attributed perhaps to the way in which the +mouth is kept always open. Women, as well as males, are generally +tattooed of a reddish or blue colour, round the mouth, moustachio-wise. +Both sexes are addicted to smoking, and look upon brandy as the _summum +bonum_ of human life. + +The Indians, ugly as they were, gave Madame Pfeiffer a hospitable +welcome. After an evening meal, in which roasted monkey and parrot were +the chief dishes, they performed one of their characteristic dances. A +quantity of wood was heaped up into a funeral pile, and set on fire; the +men then danced around it in a ring. They threw their bodies from side +to side with much awkwardness, but always moving the head forward in a +straight line. The women then joined in, forming at a short distance +behind the men, and imitating all their movements. A horrible noise +arose; this was intended for a song, the singers at the same time +distorting their features frightfully. One of them performed on a kind +of stringed instrument, made out of the stem of a cabbage-palm, and about +two feet, or two feet and a half, in length. A hole was cut in it +slantwise, and six fibres of the stem were kept up in an elevated +position at each end, by means of a small bridge. The fingers played +upon these as upon a guitar, drawing forth a very low, harsh, and +disagreeable tone. The dance, thus pleasingly accompanied, was called +the Dance of Peace and Joy. + +A wilder measure was next undertaken by the men alone. They first +equipped themselves with bows, arrows, and stout clubs; then they formed +a circle, indulged in the most rapid and fantastic movements, and +brandished their clubs as if dealing death to a hundred foes. Suddenly +they broke their ranks, strung their bows, placed their arrows ready, and +represented all the evolutions of shooting after a flying foe, giving +utterance to the most piercing cries, which resounded through the forest- +glades. Madame Pfeiffer, believing that she was really surrounded by +enemies, started up in terror, and was heartily glad when the dance +ended. + +[Cape Horn: page51.jpg] + +From Rio Janeiro Madame Pfeiffer sailed in an English ship, the _John +Renwick_, on the 9th of December, bound for Valparaiso in Chili. She +kept to the south, touching at Santos, where the voyagers celebrated New- +Year's Day, and reaching the mouth of the Rio Plata on the 11th of +January. In these latitudes the Southern Cross is the most conspicuous +object in the heavens. It consists of four stars of much brilliancy, +arranged in two diagonal rows. Late in the month the voyagers sighted +the sterile shores and barren mountains of Patagonia, and next the +volcanic rocks, wave-worn and wind-worn, of Tierra del Fuego. Through +the Strait of Le Maire, which separates the latter from Staten Island, +they sailed onward to the extreme southern point of the American +continent, the famous promontory of Cape Horn. It is the termination of +the mighty mountain-chain of the Andes, and is formed of a mass of +colossal basaltic rocks, thrown together in wild disorder, as by a +Titan's hand. + +Rounding Cape Horn they encountered a violent gale, which lasted for +several days; and soon discovered, like other voyagers, how little the +great southern ocean deserves its name of the Pacific. But they reached +Valparaiso in safety. Its appearance, however, did not very favourably +impress Madame Ida Pfeiffer. It is laid out in two long streets at the +foot of dreary hills, these hills consisting of a pile of rocks covered +with thin strata of earth and sand. Some of them are covered with +houses; on one of them is the churchyard; the others are bare and +solitary. The two chief streets are broad, and much frequented, +especially by horsemen; for every Chilian is born a horseman, and is +usually mounted on a steed worthy of a good rider. + +Valparaiso houses are European in style, with flat Italian roofs. Broad +steps lead up into a lofty entrance-hall on the first floor, from which, +through large glass doors, the visitor passes into the drawing-room and +other apartments. The drawing-room is the pride not only of every +European settler, but of every native Chilian. The foot sinks into heavy +and costly carpets; the walls are emblazoned with rich tapestry; the +furniture and mirrors are of European make, and sumptuous in the extreme; +and every table presents the evidence of refined taste in gorgeous +albums, adorned with the choicest engravings. + +As to the lower classes of the population, if we would obtain an idea of +their manners and customs, we must stroll on a fete-day into one of their +eating-houses. + +In one corner, on the ground, crackles a tremendous fire, surrounded by +innumerable pots and pans, between which are wooden spits with beef and +pork, simmering and roasting with appetizing savour. A rude wooden frame- +work, with a long broad plank on it, occupies the middle of the room, and +is covered with a cloth, the original colour of which it is impossible to +determine. This is the guest-table. The dinner is served up in the most +primitive fashion imaginable, all the viands being heaped up in one dish; +beans and rice, potatoes and roast beef, onions and paradise apples, +forming a curious medley. The appetites of the guests are keen, and no +time is wasted in talking. At the end of the repast, a goblet of wine or +water passes from hand to hand; after which every tongue is loosened. In +the evening a guitar strikes up, and dancing becomes general. + +A singular custom prevails among the Chilians on the death of a little +child. This incident, in most European families, is attended by much +sorrow: the Chilian parents make it the occasion of a great festival. The +deceased _angelito_, or little angel, is adorned in various ways. Its +eyes, instead of being closed, are opened as wide as possible; its cheeks +are painted red; then the cold rigid corpse is dressed in the finest +clothes, crowned with flowers, and set up in a little chair in a flower- +garlanded niche. The relatives and neighbours flock in, to wish the +parents joy on the possession of such an angel; and, during the first +night, they all indulge in the most extravagant dances, and feast with +sounds of wildest merriment before the _angelito_. + +Madame Pfeiffer heard from a merchant the following story:--A +grave-digger, on his way to the churchyard with one of these deceased +angelitos, tarried at a tavern to refresh himself with a cup of wine. The +landlord inquired what he was carrying under his cloak, and on learning +that it was an angelito, offered him a shilling for it. A bargain was +soon struck; the landlord quickly fitted up a flowery niche in the +drinking-saloon, and then took care that his neighbours should know what +a treasure he had acquired. They came; they admired the angelito; they +drank copiously in its honour. But the parents hearing of the affair, +interfered, carried away their dead child, and summoned the landlord +before the magistrate. The latter gravely heard the pleadings on both +sides, and as no such case was mentioned in the statute-book, arranged it +amicably, to the satisfaction of both parties. + +[Scene in Tahiti: page57.jpg] + +* * * * * + +Wearying of Valparaiso, our restless and adventurous traveller, who was +bent upon accomplishing a voyage round the world, took her passage for +China in the Dutch barque _Lootpurt_, Captain Van Wyk Jurianse. + +They sailed from Valparaiso on the 18th of March, and on the 26th of +April came in sight of that gem of the South Seas, Tahiti, the Otaheite +of Captain Cook, and the largest and most beautiful of the Society group. +From the days of Bougainville, its discoverer, down to those of "the Earl +and the Doctor," who recently published a narrative of their visit, it +has been the theme of admiration for the charms of its scenery. It lifts +its lofty summit out of a wealth of luxuriant vegetation, which descends +to the very margin of a sea as blue as the sky above it. Cool green +valleys penetrate into its mountain-recesses, and their slopes are loaded +with groves of bread-fruit and cocoa-nut trees. The inhabitants, +physically speaking, are not unworthy of their island-Eden; they are a +tall, robust, and well-knit race, and would be comely but for their +custom of flattening the nose as soon as the child is born. They have +fine dark eyes, and thick jet-black hair. The colour of their skin is a +copper-brown. Both sexes are tattooed, generally from the hips half down +the legs, and frequently over the hands, feet, and other parts of the +body; the devices being often very fanciful in design, and always +artistically executed. + +The women of Tahiti have always been notorious for their immodesty, and +the island, notwithstanding the labours of zealous missionaries, +continues to be the Polynesian Paphos. The French protectorate from +which it suffers has not raised the moral standard of the population. + +Madame Pfeiffer undertook an excursion to the Lake Vaihiria, assuming for +the nonce a semi-masculine attire, which any less strong-minded and +adventurous woman would probably have refused. She wore, she tells us, +strong men's shoes, trousers, and a blouse, which was fastened high up +about the hips. Thus equipped, she started off with her guide, crossing +about two-and-thirty brooks before they entered the ravines leading into +the interior of the island. + +She noticed that as they advanced the fruit-trees disappeared, and +instead, the slopes were covered with plantains, taros, and marantas; the +last attaining a height of twelve feet, and growing so luxuriantly that +it is with some difficulty the traveller makes his way through the +tangle. The taro, which is carefully cultivated, averages two or three +feet high, and has fine large leaves and tubers like those of the potato, +but not so good when roasted. There is much gracefulness in the +appearance of the plantain, or banana, which varies from twelve to +fifteen feet in height, and has leaves like those of the palm, but a +brittle reed-like stem, about eight inches in diameter. It attains its +full growth in the first year, bears fruit in the second, and then dies. +Thus its life is as brief as it is useful. + +Through one bright mountain-stream, which swept along the ravine over a +stony bed, breaking up into eddies and tiny whirlpools, and in some +places attaining a depth of three feet, Madame Pfeiffer and her guide +waded or half-swam two-and-sixty times. The resolute spirit of the +woman, however, never failed her; and though the path at every step +became more difficult and dangerous, she persisted in pressing forward. +She clambered over rocks and stones; she forced her way through inter- +tangled bushes; and though severely wounded in her hands and feet, never +hesitated for a moment. In two places the ravine narrowed so +considerably that the entire space was filled by the brawling torrent. It +was here that the islanders, during their struggle against French +occupation, threw up stone walls five feet in height, as a barrier +against the enemy. + +In eight hours the bold traveller and her guide had walked, waded, and +clambered fully eighteen miles, and had attained an elevation of eighteen +hundred feet. The lake itself was not visible until they stood upon its +shores, as it lies bosomed in a deep hollow, among lofty and precipitous +mountains which descend with startling abruptness to the very brink of +its dark, deep waters. To cross the lake it is necessary to put one's +trust in one's swimming powers, or in a curiously frail kind of boat, +which the natives prepare with equal rapidity and skill. Madame +Pfeiffer, however, was nothing if not adventurous. Whatever there was to +be dared, she immediately dared. At her request, the guide made the +usual essay at boat-building. He tore off some plantain branches, bound +them together with long tough grass, laid a few leaves upon them, +launched them in the water, and requested Madame Pfeiffer to embark. She +confesses to having felt a little hesitation, but without saying a word, +she stepped on board. Then her guide took to the water like a duck, and +pushed her forward. The passage across the lake, and back again, was in +this way accomplished without any accident. + +Having satiated herself with admiring the lake and its surrounding +scenery, she retired to a little nook roofed over with leaves, where her +guide quickly kindled a good fire in the usual Indian fashion. He cut a +small piece of wood to a fine point, and then selecting a second piece, +grooved it with a narrow and not very deep furrow. In this he rubbed the +pointed stick until the fragments detached during the process began to +smoke. These he flung into a heap of dry leaves and grass previously +collected, and swung the whole several times round in the air, until it +broke out into flames. The entire process did not occupy above two +minutes. Gathering a few plantains, these were roasted for supper; after +which Madame Pfeiffer withdrew to her solitary couch of dry leaves, to +sleep as best she might. It is impossible not to wonder at the +marvellous physical capability of this adventurous woman, no less than at +her courage, her resolution, and her perseverance. How many of her sex +could bear for a week the fatigue and exposure to which she subjected +herself year after year? + +The next morning she accomplished the return journey in safety. + +* * * * * + +[Hong-Kong: page65.jpg] + +On the 17th of May she left Tahiti, the Dutch vessel in which she had +embarked being bound via the Philippines. They passed this rich and +radiant group of islands on the 1st of July, and the next day entered the +dangerous China Sea. A few days afterwards they reached Hong-Kong, which +has been an English settlement since 1842. Here Madame Pfeiffer made no +long stay, for she desired to see China and the Chinese with as little +intermixture of the European element as possible. So she ascended the +Pearl river, the banks of which are covered with immense plantations of +rice, and studded with quaint little country-houses, of the genuine +Chinese pattern, with sloping, pointed roofs, and mosaics of variously +coloured tiles, to Canton, one of the great commercial centres of the +Flowery Land. As she approached she surveyed with wonder the animated +scene before her. The river was crowded with ships and inhabited boats. +Junks there were, almost as large as the old Spanish galleons, with poops +impending far over the water, and covered in with a roof, like a house. +Men-of-war there were, flat, broad, and long, mounted with twenty or +thirty guns, and adorned in the usual Chinese fashion, with two large +painted eyes at the prow, that they may be the better able to find their +way. Mandarins' boats she saw, with doors, and sides, and windows gaily +painted, with carved galleries, and tiny silken flags fluttering from +every point. And flower-boats she also saw; their upper galleries decked +with flowers, garlands, and arabesques, as if these were barks fitted out +for the service of Titania and her fairy company. The interior is +divided into one large apartment and a few cabinets, which are lighted by +windows of fantastic design. Mirrors and silk hangings embellish the +walls, while the enchanting scene is completed with an ample garniture of +glass chandeliers and coloured paper lanterns, interspersed with lovely +little baskets of fresh flowers. + +It is not necessary to attempt a description of Canton, with its pagodas, +houses, shops, and European factories. Let us direct our attention to +the manners, customs, and peculiarities of its inhabitants. As to dress +and appearance, the costume of both sexes, among the lower orders, +consists of full trousers and long upper garments, and is chiefly +remarkable for its "excessive filth." Baths and ablutions have no charm +for the Chinaman; he scorns to wear a shirt, and he holds by his trousers +until they drop from his body. The men's upper garments reach a little +below the knee, the women's about half way down the calf. They are made +of nankeen, or dark blue, brown, or black silk. During the cold season +both men and women wear one summer garment over the other, keeping the +whole together with a girdle; in the extreme heat, however, they suffer +them to float as free as "Nora Creina's robes" in Moore's pretty ballad. + +The men keep their heads shaved, with the exception of a small patch at +the back, where the hair is carefully cultivated and plaited into a cue. +The thicker and longer this cue is, the prouder is its owner; false hair +and black ribbon, therefore, are all deftly worked into it, with the +result of forming an appendage which often reaches down to the ankles! +While at work the owner twists it round his neck, but on entering a room +he lets it down again, as it would be contrary to all the laws of +etiquette and courtesy for a person to make his appearance with his cue +twisted up. The women comb their hair entirely back from their forehead, +and fasten it to the head in the most artistic plaits. The process +occupies a considerable time, but when the hair is once dressed it is not +retouched for a whole week. Both men and women frequently go about with +heads uncovered; but sometimes they wear hats of thin bamboo, three feet +in diameter. These are not only an adequate protection against sun and +rain, but are exceedingly durable. + +Large numbers of Chinese live a kind of aquatic life, and make their home +on board a river-boat. The husband goes on shore to his work, and his +wife meantime adds to the income of the family by ferrying persons from +bank to bank, or letting out the boat to pleasure parties--always +reserving one half of its accommodation for herself and household. Room +is not very abundant, as the whole boat does not exceed twenty-five feet +in length; but everywhere the greatest order and cleanliness are +apparent, each separate plank being enthusiastically scrubbed and washed +every morning. It is worth notice how each inch of space is turned to +the best advantage, room being made even for the _lares_ and _penates_. +All the washing and cooking are done during the day; yet the pleasure +party is never in the least degree inconvenienced. + +Of course our traveller was attracted by the diminutiveness of the feet +of the Chinese women, and she had an opportunity of examining one of +these tiny monstrosities _in natura_. Four of the toes were bent under +the sole of the foot, to which they were firmly pressed, and +simultaneously with which they appeared to have grown, if growth it can +be called; the great toe alone remained in its natural state. The fore +part of the foot had been so swathed and compressed by tight bandages, +that, instead of expanding in length and breadth, it had shot upwards, so +as to form a large lump at the instep, where it became, so to speak, a +portion of the leg; the lower part of the foot was scarcely five inches +long, and an inch and a half broad. The feet are always encased in white +linen or silk, with silk bandages over all, and are then stuffed into +pretty little shoes with very high heels. "To my astonishment," says +Madame Pfeiffer, "these deformed beings tripped about, as if in defiance +of us broad-footed creatures, with tolerable ease, the only difference in +their gait being that they waddled like geese; they even ran up and down +stairs without a stick." She adds, that the value of a bride is reckoned +by the smallness of her feet. + +It was characteristic of Madame Pfeiffer that she found means to see much +which no European woman had ever seen before. She obtained access even +to a Buddhist temple,--that of Houan, reputed to be one of the finest in +China. The sacred enclosure is surrounded by a high wall. The visitor +enters first a large outer court, at the extremity of which a huge +gateway opens upon an inner court. Beneath the arch stand two statues of +war-gods, each eighteen feet high, with terribly distorted faces and the +most menacing attitudes; these are supposed to prevent the approach of +evil genii. A second portal, of similar construction, under which are +placed the "four heavenly kings," leads to a third court, surrounding the +principal temple, a structure one hundred feet in length, and of equal +breadth. On rows of wooden pillars is supported a flat roof, from which +glass lamps, lustres, artificial flowers, and brightly-coloured ribbons +hang suspended. All about the area are scattered statues, altars, vases +of flowers, censers, candelabra, and other accessories. + +But the eye is chiefly attracted by the three altars in the foreground, +with the three coloured statues behind them, of Buddha, seated, as +emblematic of Past, Present, and Future. On the occasion of Madame +Pfeiffer's visit a service was being performed,--a funeral ceremony in +honour of a mandarin's deceased wife, and at his expense. Before the +altars on the right and left stood several priests, in garments strangely +resembling, as did the ceremonial observances, those of the Roman Church. +The mandarin himself, attended by two servants armed with large fans, +prayed before the central altar. He kissed the ground repeatedly, and +each time he did so three sweet-scented wax-tapers were put into his +hand. After raising them in the air, he handed them to the priests, who +then stationed them, unlighted, before the Buddha images. Meantime, the +temple resounded with the blended strains of three musicians, one of whom +struck a metal ball, the other scraped a stringed instrument, and the +third educed shrill notes from a kind of flute. + +This principal temple is surrounded by numerous smaller sanctuaries, each +decorated with images of deities, rudely wrought, but glowing with gilt +and vivid colours. Special reverence seems to be accorded to Kwanfootse, +a demigod of War, and the four-and-twenty gods of Mercy. These latter +have four, six, and even eight arms. In the Temple of Mercy Madame +Pfeiffer met with an unpleasant adventure. A Bonze had offered her and +her companions a couple of wax tapers to light in honour of the god. They +were on the point of complying, as a matter of civility, when an American +missionary, who made one of the party, snatched them roughly from their +hands, and gave them back to the priests, protesting that such compliance +was idolatrous. The Bonze, in high indignation, closed the door, and +summoned his brethren, who hurried in from all sides, and jostled and +pushed and pressed, while using the most violent language. It was not +without difficulty they forced their way through the crowd, and escaped +from the temple. + +The guide next led the curiosity-hunters to the so-called House of the +Sacred Swine. The greatest attention is paid to these porcine treasures, +and they reside in a spacious stone hall; but not the less is the +atmosphere heavy with odours that are not exactly those of Araby the +Blest. Throughout their sluggish existence the swine are carefully fed +and cherished, and no cruel knife cuts short the thread of their destiny. +At the time of Madame Pfeiffer's visit only one pair were enjoying their +_otium cum dignitate_, and the number rarely exceeds three pairs. + +Peeping into the interior of a Bonze's house, the company came upon an +opium-smoker. He lay stretched upon a mat, with small tea-cups beside +him, some fruit, a tiny lamp, and several miniature-headed pipes, from +one of which he was inhaling the intoxicating smoke. It is said that +some of the Chinese opium-smokers consume as much as twenty or thirty +grains daily. This poor wretch was not wholly unconscious of the +presence of visitors; and, laying by his pipe, he raised himself from the +ground, and dragged his body to a chair. With deadly pale face and +fixed, staring eyes, he presented a miserable appearance. + +* * * * * + +Our traveller also visited a pagoda,--the Half-Way Pagoda; so called by +the English because it is situated half-way between Canton and Whampoa. +On a small hillock, in the midst of vast tracts of rice, it raises its +nine stories to a height of one hundred and seventy feet. Though +formerly of great repute, it is now deserted. The interior has been +stripped of statues and ornaments, and the floors having been removed, +the visitor sees to the very summit. Externally, each stage is indicated +by a small balcony without railing, access being obtained by steep and +narrow flights of stairs. A picturesque effect is produced by these +projections, as everybody knows who has examined a "willow-pattern" +plate. They are built of coloured bricks, which are laid in rows, with +their points jutting obliquely outwards, and faced with variegated tiles. + +Even more interesting was Madame Pfeiffer's peep into the "domestic +interior" of Mandarin Howqua. + +The house was of large size, but only one story high, with wide and +splendid terraces. The windows looked into the inner courts. At the +entrance were two painted images of gods to ward off evil spirits, like +the horse-shoe formerly suspended to the cottages and barns of our +English peasants. + +The front part was divided into several reception rooms, without front +walls; and adjoining these, bloomed bright and gaily-ordered parterres of +flowers and shrubs. The magnificent terraces above also bloomed with +blossom, and commanded a lively view of the crowded river, and of the +fine scenery that spreads around Canton. Elegant little cabinets +surrounded these rooms, being separated by thin partitions, through which +the eye could easily penetrate, and frequently embellished with gay and +skilfully-executed paintings. The material used was chiefly bamboo, +which was as delicate as gauze, and copiously decorated with painted +flowers or beautifully-written proverbs. + +The chairs and sofas were numerous, and of really artistic workmanship. +Some of the arm-chairs were cunningly wrought out of a single piece of +wood. The seats of others were beautiful marble slabs; of others, again, +fine coloured tiles or porcelain. Articles of European manufacture, such +as handsome mirrors, clocks, vases, and tables of Florentine mosaic or +variegated marble, were plentiful. There was also a remarkable +collection of lamps and lanterns pendent from the ceilings, +consisting--these lamps and lanterns--of glass, transparent horn, and +coloured gauze or paper, ornamented with glass beads, fringe, and +tassels. And as the walls were also largely supplied with lamps, the +apartments, when lighted up, assumed a truly fairy-like character. + +[Chinese House and Garden: page77.jpg] + +The mandarin's pleasure-garden stretched along the river-side. Its +cultivation was perfect, but no taste was shown in its arrangement. +Wherever the visitor turned, kiosks, summer-houses, and bridges +confronted her. Every path and open spot were lined with large and small +flower-pots, in which grew flowers and liliputian fruit-trees of all +kinds. In the art of dwarfing trees, if such distortion and crippling of +Nature deserves to be called an art, the Chinese are certainly most +accomplished experts; but what can we think of the taste, or want of +taste, which prefers pigmies three feet high to the lofty and +far-shadowing trees which embellish our English parks and gardens? Why +should a civilized people put Nature in fetters, and delight in checking +her growth, in limiting her spontaneous energies? + +Here are some particulars about the tea-plant:--In the plantations around +Canton, it is not allowed to grow higher than six feet, and is +consequently cut at intervals. Its leaves are considered good from the +third to the eighth year; and the plant is then cut down, in order that +it may throw off new shoots, or else it is rooted out. Three gatherings +take place in the year; the first in March, the second in April, and the +third, which lasts for three months, in May. So fine and delicate are +the leaves of the first gathering, that they might easily be mistaken for +the blossom; which undoubtedly has originated the error that the +so-called "bloom or imperial tea" consists of the flowers and not of the +leaves of the plant. + +When gathered, the leaves are thrown for a few seconds into boiling +water, and then placed on flat iron plates, inserted slantwise in stone- +work. While roasting over a gentle fire, they are continually stirred. +As soon as they begin to curl a little, they are scattered over large +planks, and each single leaf is rolled together; a process so rapidly +accomplished that it requires a person's sole attention to detect that +only one leaf is rolled up at a time. This completed, all the leaves are +again placed in the pans. Black tea takes some time to roast; and the +green is frequently coloured with Prussian blue, an exceedingly small +quantity of which is added during the second roasting. Last of all, the +tea is once more shaken out upon the boards, and submitted to a careful +inspection, the leaves that are not entirely closed being rolled over +again. + +[Singapore: page81.jpg] + +Madame Pfeiffer had an opportunity of tasting a cup of tea made after the +most approved Chinese fashion. A small quantity was dropped into a +delicate porcelain cup, boiling water was poured upon it, and a tightly- +fitting cover then adjusted to the cup. After a few seconds, the +infusion was ready for drinking--neither milk, cream, nor sugar being +added. + +* * * * * + +But we must tarry no longer within the borders of the Celestial Empire. +We have to follow Madame Pfeiffer in her wanderings over many seas and +through many countries,--for in the course of her adventurous career she +saw more of "men and cities" than even the much-travelling Ulysses,--and +our limits confine us to brief notices of the most remarkable places she +visited. + +From China she sailed for the East Indies. + +On her way she "looked in" at Singapore, a British settlement, where +gather the traders of many Asiatic nations. The scenery which stretches +around it is of a rich and agreeable character, and the island on which +it is situated excels in fertility of vegetation. A saunter among the +plantations of cloves and nutmegs is very pleasant, the air breathing a +peculiar balsamic fragrance. The nutmeg-tree is about the size of a good +apricot-bush, and from top to bottom is a mass of foliage; the branches +grow very low down the stem, and the leaves glitter as if they were +varnished. The fruit closely resembles an apricot, covered with spots of +yellowish-brown. It bursts on attaining maturity, and then reveals a +round kernel, of the size of a nut, embedded in a network, sold as mace, +of a beautiful red colour. This network of fibrous material is carefully +separated from the nutmeg, and dried in the shade,--being frequently +sprinkled with sea-water, to prevent the colour deepening into black, +instead of changing into yellow. The nutmeg is likewise dried, exposed a +while to the action of smoke, and dipped several times into sea-water +containing a weak solution of lime, to prevent it from turning mouldy. + +The clove-tree is smaller, and less copiously provided with foliage, than +the nutmeg-tree. The buds form what are known to us as cloves; and, of +course, are gathered before they have had time to blossom. The areca-nut +palm is also plentiful in Singapore. It grows in clusters of from ten to +twenty nuts; is somewhat larger than a nutmeg, and of a bright colour, +almost resembling gilt. + +The Chinese and the natives of the Eastern Islands chew it with betel- +leaf and calcined mussel-shells. With a small quantity of the latter +they strew the leaf; a very small piece of the nut is added, and the +whole is made into a little packet, which they put into their mouth. + +Madame Pfeiffer also inspected a sago manufactory. The unprepared +farina, which is the pith of the sago palm, is imported from a +neighbouring island. The tree is cut down when it is seven years old, +split from top to bottom, and the pith extracted from it. Then it is +freed from the fibres, pressed in large frames, and dried at the fire or +in the sun. At Singapore this pith or meal, which is of a yellowish +tint, is steeped in water for several days until completely blanched; it +is then once more dried by the fire or in the sun, passed under a large +wooden roller, and through a hair sieve. When it has become white and +fine, it is placed in a kind of linen winnowing-fan, which is kept damp +in a peculiar manner. The workman takes a mouthful of water, and "spirts +it out like fine rain over the fan;" the meal being alternately shaken +and moistened until it assumes the character of small globules. These +are stirred round in large flat pans, until they are dried. Then they +are passed through a second sieve, not quite so fine as the first, and +the larger globules are separated from the rest. + +Pepper and gambir plantations are also among the "sights" of Singapore. +The pepper-tree is a small bush-like plant, which, when carefully +trained, springs to a height of eighteen feet. The pepper-pods grow in +small clusters, and change from red to green, and then to black. White +pepper is nothing more than the black pepper blanched by frequent +steeping in sea-water. The gambir does not grow taller than eight feet. +The leaves, which are used in dyeing, are first stripped from the stalk, +and then boiled down in large coppers. The thick juice is placed in +white wooden vessels, and dried in the sun; then it is divided into slips +about three inches long, and packed up. + +Singapore is an island of _fruits_. It boasts of the delicious +mangosteen, which almost melts in the mouth, and delights the palate with +its exquisite flavour. It boasts, too, of splendid pine-apples, +frequently weighing as much as four pounds. Also of sauersop, as big as +the biggest pine-apples, green outside, and white or pale yellow inside, +with a taste and fragrance like that of strawberries. Nor must the +gumaloh be forgotten: it is divided, like the orange, into sections, but +is five times as large, and not quite so sweet. Finally, we must refer +to the custard-apple, which is very white (though full of black pips), +very soft, and very enticing in flavour. + +* * * * * + +From Singapore we follow Madame Pfeiffer to Point de Galle, in Ceylon. +The appearance of this fair and fertile island from the sea is the theme +of every traveller's praise. "It was one of the most magnificent sights +I ever beheld," says Madame Pfeiffer, "to see the island soaring +gradually from the sea, with its mountain-ranges growing more and more +distinctly defined, their summits lighted by the sun, while the dense +cocoa-groves, and hills and plains, lay shrouded in shadow." Above the +whole towers the purple mass of Adam's Peak; and the eye rests in every +direction on the most luxuriant foliage, with verdurous glades, and +slopes carpeted with flowers. + +Point de Galle presents a curious mixture of races. Cingalese, +Kanditons, Tamils from South India, and Moormen, with crimson caftans and +shaven crowns, form the bulk of the crowds that throng its streets; but, +besides these, there are Portuguese, Chinese, Jews, Arabs, Parsees, +Englishmen, Malays, Dutchmen, and half-caste burghers, and now and then a +veiled Arabian woman, or a Veddah, one of the aboriginal inhabitants of +the island. Sir Charles Dilke speaks of "silent crowds of tall and +graceful girls, wearing, as we at first supposed, white petticoats and +bodices; their hair carried off the face with a decorated hoop, and +caught at the back by a high tortoise-shell comb. As they drew near, +moustaches began to show, and I saw that they were men; whilst walking +with them were women naked to the waist, combless, and far more rough and +'manly' than their husbands. Petticoat and chignon are male institutions +in Ceylon." + +* * * * * + +Madame Pfeiffer, with unresting energy, visited Colombo and Kandy, the +chief towns of the island. At the latter she obtained admission to the +Temple of Dagoba, which contains a precious relic of the god +Buddha--namely, one of his teeth. The sanctuary containing this sacred +treasure is a small chamber or cell, less than twenty feet in breadth. It +is enveloped in darkness, as there are no windows; and the door is +curtained inside, for the more effectual exclusion of the light. Rich +tapestry covers the walls and ceiling. But the chief object is the +altar, which glitters with plates of silver, and is incrusted about the +edges with precious stones. Upon it stands a bell-shaped case about +three feet in height, and three feet in diameter at the base. It is made +of silver, elaborately gilt, and decorated with a number of costly +jewels. A peacock in the middle blazes with jewels. Six smaller cases, +reputed to be of gold, are enclosed within the large one, and under the +last is the tooth of Buddha. As it is as large as that of a great bull, +one trembles to think how monstrous must have been the jaw of the Indian +creed-founder! + +[Native boat, Madras: page89.jpg] + +* * * * * + +Madame Ida Pfeiffer arrived at Madras on the 30th of October. She +describes the process of disembarkation; but as her details are few, and +refer to a comparatively distant date, we propose to rely on the +narrative of a recent traveller. + +From time immemorial, he says, the system of landing and embarking +passengers and cargo has been by means of native Massulah boats, +constructed of mango wood, calked with straw, and sewn together with +cocoa-nut fibre. The ships drop their anchors in the roads half a mile +from the shore; the Massulah boat pulls off alongside, receives its cargo +at the gangway, and is then beached through the surf. It is no uncommon +circumstance for the boat alongside, assisted by the rolling of the ship, +to rise and fall twenty-five feet relatively to the height of the ship's +deck at each undulation. Ladies are lashed into chairs, and from the +ship's yard-arm lowered into the boat. In 1860 some improvement was +effected by the construction of an iron pier, about nine hundred feet in +length, and twenty feet in height. But a spacious and sheltered harbour +is now being provided, by means of piers running out from the shore five +hundred yards north and south respectively of the screw pile pier now +existing, so as to enclose a rectangular area of one thousand yards in +length by eight hundred and thirty yards in width, or one hundred and +seventy acres. The foundation-stone was laid by the Prince of Wales in +the course of his Indian progress in 1876. + +Madame Pfeiffer stayed but a few hours at Madras, and her notes +respecting it are of no value. We will proceed at once to Calcutta, the +"City of Palaces," as it has been called, and the capital of our Indian +Empire. + +She speaks of the Viceroy's Palace as a magnificent building, and one +that would ornament any city in the world. Other noticeable edifices are +the Town Hall, the Hospital, the Museum, Ochterlony's Monument, the Mint, +and the Cathedral. Ochterlony's Monument is a plain stone column, one +hundred and sixty-five feet high, erected in commemoration of a sagacious +statesman and an able soldier. From its summit, to which access is +obtained by two hundred and twenty-two steps, may be obtained a noble +view of the city, the broad reaches of the Ganges, and the fertile plains +of Bengal. + +The Cathedral is an imposing pile. Its architecture is Gothic, and the +interior produces a very fine effect by the harmony of its proportions +and the richness of its details. The ill-famed "Black Hole," in which +the Rajah Surajah Dowlah confined one hundred and fifty English men and +women, when he obtained possession of Calcutta in 1756--confining them in +a narrow and noisome cell, which poisoned them with its malarious +atmosphere, so that by morning only a few remained alive--is now part of +a warehouse. But an obelisk stands at the entrance, inscribed with the +names of the victims. + +The fashionable promenade at Calcutta is the Maidan. It runs along the +bank of the Hooghly, and is bounded on the other side by rows of palatial +mansions. It commands a good view of the Viceroy's Palace, the +Cathedral, the Ochterlony Column, the strong defensive works of Fort +William; and is altogether a very interesting and attractive spot. + +Every evening, before sunset, thither wends the fashionable world of +Calcutta. The impassive European, with all the proud consciousness of a +conquering race; the half-Europeanized baboo; the deposed rajah,--all may +be seen driving to and fro in splendid equipages, drawn by handsome +steeds, and followed by servants in gay Oriental attire. The rajahs and +"nabobs" are usually dressed in gold-embroidered robes of silk, over +which are thrown the costliest Indian shawls. Ladies and gentlemen, on +English horses of the best blood, canter along the road, or its turfen +borders; while crowds of dusky natives gather in all directions, or +leisurely move homewards after their day's work. A bright feature of the +scene is the animated appearance of the Hooghly: first-class East +Indiamen are lying at anchor, ships are arriving or preparing for +departure, the native craft incessantly ply to and fro, and a Babel of +voices of different nationalities rises on the air. + +Here is a picture of the Maidan, drawn by another lady-traveller, Mrs. +Murray Mitchell:-- + +[The Maidan, Calcutta: page95.jpg] + +It is, she says, a noble expanse, which, about a hundred years ago, was a +wild swampy jungle, famous only for snipe-shooting. Strange to say, it +is not, like most Indian plains, burned up and brown, but, from its +vicinity to the river, and the frequent showers that visit it, as fresh +and green as an English park. It has a few fine tanks, and is sprinkled +with some leafy trees; these, however, not so numerous as they were +before the cyclones of 1864 and 1867, which swept away its chief natural +beauties. Several broad well-kept drives intersect it, and it is +ornamented by some graceful gardens and a few handsome columns and +statues. Indeed, the Maidan is the centre of all that is grand and +imposing; the shabby and the unsightly is kept behind, out of view. +Facing it, along its eastern marge, stand the noble pillared palaces of +Chowringhee. At one end stands the handsome new Court House; also the +Town Hall, and other buildings of less pretence; and, further on, the +noble pile of Government House, with four handsome entrance gates, and +surrounded by shrubberies and gardens. In front spread the Eden Gardens, +a delightful addition to the beauties both of Government House and the +Esplanade. From this point the business part of Calcutta extends in a +northerly direction, including Dalhousie Square, with its many buildings, +among which conspicuous stands the domed Post Office--the vista closing +gracefully with the shapely spire of St. Andrew's Church. At the further +extremity, nearly two miles across the verdant expanse, are seen the +Cathedral, with its noble spire, the General Hospital, and the Jail; and +still further, the richly-wooded suburbs of Kidderpore and Alipore. Fort +William fronts toward the river, and with its ramparts and buildings +forms a striking object; while the whole is bordered and "beautified" by +the broad river, with its crowd of masts and flags, its almost +innumerable boats, its landing-ghats, and all its life and motion. + +* * * * * + +[Benares: page99.jpg] + +From Calcutta, Madame Pfeiffer proceeded to the city of temples, the +sacred city of Hinduism--Benares. She visited several temples, but found +them all agreeing in their leading details. That of Vishnu has two +towers connected by colonnades, the summits of which are covered with +gold plates. Inside are several images of Vishnu and Siva, wreathed with +flowers, and strewn over with grains of rice and wheat. Images in metal +or stone of the sacred bull are plentiful everywhere; and living bulls +wander about freely, the object of special care and adoration. They are +free to stray where they will, not in the temple precincts only, but also +in the streets. + +Among the other buildings, the one most worthy of notice is the Mosque of +Aurengzebe, famous on account of its two minarets, which are 150 feet in +height, and reported to be the slenderest in the world. They resemble a +couple of needles, and certainly better deserve the name than that of +Cleopatra at Alexandria. Narrow winding staircases in the interior lead +to the summit, on which a small platform, with a balustrade about a foot +high, is erected. From this vantage-point a noble view of the city, it +is said, may be obtained; but few persons, we should think, have heads +cool enough to enjoy it. With all Madame Pfeiffer's adventurousness, she +did not essay this perilous experiment. + +The Observatory, constructed for the great Mohammedan emperor Akbar, is +also an object of interest. It is not furnished, like a European +observatory, with the usual astronomical instruments, telescopes, rain- +gauges, anemometers, and the like, the handiwork of cunning artificers in +glass and metal; but everything is of stone--solid, durable stone. On a +raised terrace stand circular tables, semicircular and quadratic curves, +all of stone, and all inscribed with mystic signs and characters. + +Benares is celebrated for its bazaars, in which are exhibited some of the +rarest productions of the East; but its principal attraction is its +sanctity, and crowds of pilgrims resort to its temples, and cleanse +themselves of their sins by bathing in the fast-flowing Ganges. To die +at Benares is regarded as a passport to heaven; and one of the most +frequent sights is the burning of a corpse on the river-bank, with +ceremonies proportioned to the rank and wealth of the deceased--the ashes +being afterwards committed to the holy waters. Benares is also famous +for its palaces. Of these the most splendid is that which the rajah +inhabits. It was visited by Madame Pfeiffer, who appears to have gone +everywhere and seen everybody at her own sweet will and pleasure, and she +was even admitted to the rajah's presence. + +A handsomely-decorated boat, she says, awaited her and her +fellow-traveller at the bank of the river. They crossed; a palanquin was +ready to receive them. Soon they arrived at the stately gateway which +forms the entrance to the palace. The interior proved to be a labyrinth +of irregular courts and small unsymmetrical chambers. In one of the +courts a hall, surrounded by plain columns, served as a reception-room. +This was cumbrously loaded with lamps, glass lustres, and European +furniture; on the walls hung some wretched pictures, framed and glazed. +Presently the rajah made his appearance, accompanied by his brother, and +attended by a long train of courtiers. The two princes were gorgeously +attired; they wore wide trousers, long under and short over garments, all +of satin, covered with gold embroidery. The rajah himself, aged thirty- +five, wore short silken cuffs, glowing with gold, and trimmed with +diamonds; several large brilliants shone on his fingers, and rich gold +embroidery was woven about his shoes. His brother, a youth of nineteen, +wore a white turban, with a costly clasp of diamonds and pearls. Large +pearls hung from his ears; rich massive bracelets clasped his wrists. + +The guests having taken their seats, a large silver basin was brought in, +with elaborately-wrought narghillies, and they were invited to smoke. +This honour they declined. The rajah then smoked in solitary dignity--his +pipe being changed as soon as he had taken a few whiffs. + +A nautchni, or dance by nautches, was next provided for the visitors' +entertainment. There were three musicians and two dancers. The latter +were dressed in gay gold-woven muslin robes, with wide silk +gold-broidered trousers, reaching to the ground, and quite covering their +bare feet. One of the musicians beat a couple of small drums; the others +played on four-stringed instruments not unlike a violin. They stood +close behind the dancers, and their music was wholly innocent of melody +or harmony; but to the rhythm, which was strongly accentuated, the +dancers moved their arms, hands, and fingers in a very animated manner, +and at intervals their feet, so as to ring the numerous tiny bells that +cover them. Their attitudes were not ungraceful. The performance lasted +a quarter of an hour, after which they accompanied the dance with what +was intended for singing, but sounded like shrieking. Meantime, +sweetmeats, fruits, and sherbet were handed round. + +As a contrast to this gay scene, Madame Pfeiffer describes the +performance of the wretched fanatics called fakeers. These men inflict +upon themselves the most extraordinary tortures. Thus: they stick an +iron hook through their flesh, and allow themselves to be suspended by it +at a height of twenty or five-and-twenty feet. {105} Or for long hours +they stand upon one foot in the burning sunshine, with their arms rigidly +extended in the air. Or they hold heavy weights in various positions, +swing round and round for hours together, and tear the flesh from their +bodies with red-hot pincers. Madame Pfeiffer saw two of these +unfortunate victims of a diseased imagination. One held a heavy axe over +his head, in the attitude of a workman bent on felling a tree; in this +position he stood, rigid as a statue. The other held the point of his +toe to his nose. + +* * * * * + +In her tour through India our traveller passed through Allahabad, +situated at the junction of the Jumna and the Ganges, and the resort of +many pilgrims; Agra, where she admired, as so many travellers have +admired, the lovely Taj-Mahal, erected by the Sultan Jehan in memory of +his favourite wife,--and the Pearl Mosque, with its exquisitely delicate +carving; Delhi, the ancient capital of the Moguls, which figured so +conspicuously in the history of the Sepoy rebellion; the cave-temples of +Ajunta and Ellora; and the great commercial emporium of Bombay. + +Quitting the confines of British India, Madame Pfeiffer, ever in quest of +the new and strange, sailed to Bassora, and ascended the historic Tigris, +so named from the swiftness of its course, to Bagdad, that quaint, remote +Oriental city, which is associated with so many wonderful legends and not +less wonderful "travellers' tales." This was of old the residence of the +great caliph, Haroun-al-Raschid, a ruler of no ordinary sagacity, and the +hero of many a tradition, whom "The Thousand and One Nights" have made +familiar to every English boy. It is still a populous and wealthy city; +many of its houses are surrounded by blooming gardens; its shops are gay +with the products of the Eastern loom; and it descends in terraces to the +bank of the river, which flows in the shade of orchards and groves of +palm. Over all extends the arch of a glowing sky. + +From Bagdad an excursion to the ruins of Babylon is natural enough. They +consist of massive fragments of walls and columns, strewn on either side +of the Euphrates. + +[Cave temple at Ellora: page107.jpg] + +On the 17th of June our heroic traveller joined a caravan which was bound +for Mosul, a distance of three hundred miles, occupying from twelve to +fourteen days. The journey is one of much difficulty and no little +danger, across a desert country of the most lifeless character. We shall +relate a few of Madame Pfeiffer's experiences. + +One day she repaired to a small village in search of food. After +wandering from hut to hut, she obtained a small quantity of milk and +three eggs. She laid the eggs in hot ashes, and covered them over; +filled her leathern flask from the Tigris; and, thus loaded, returned to +the encampment formed by the caravan. She ate her eggs and drank her +milk with an appetite for which an epicure would be thankful. + +The mode of making butter in vogue at this village was very peculiar. The +cream was put into a leathern bottle, and shaken about on the ground +until the butter consolidated. It was then put into another bottle +filled with water, and finally turned out as white as snow. + +Next day, when they rested during the heat, the guide of the caravan +endeavoured to procure her a little shelter from the glare of the +pitiless sun by laying a small cover over a couple of poles stuck into +the ground. But the place shaded was so small, and the tent so frail, +that she was compelled to sit quietly in one position, as the slightest +movement would have involved it in ruin. Shortly afterwards, when she +wished for some refreshment, nothing could be procured but lukewarm +water, bread so hard that it could not be eaten until thoroughly soaked, +and a cucumber without salt or vinegar. + +At a village near Kerka the caravan tarried for two days. On the first +day Madame Pfeiffer's patience was sorely tried. All the women of the +place flocked to examine the stranger. First they inspected her clothes, +then wanted to take the turban off her head; and, in fact, proved +themselves most troublesome intruders. At last Madame Pfeiffer seized +one of them by the arm, and turned her out of her tent so quickly that +she had no time to think of resistance. By the eloquence of gesture our +traveller made the others understand that, unless they withdrew at once, +a similarly abrupt dismissal awaited them. She then drew a circle round +her tent, and forbade them to cross it; an injunction which was strictly +respected. + +She had now only to settle with the wife of her guide, who had besieged +her the whole day, pressing as near as possible, and petitioning for some +of her "things." Fortunately her husband came on the scene, and to him +Madame Pfeiffer preferred her complaint, threatening to leave his house +and seek shelter elsewhere,--well knowing that the Arabs consider this a +great disgrace. He immediately ordered his wife to desist, and the +traveller was at peace. "I always succeeded," says Madame Pfeiffer, "in +obtaining my own will. I found that energy and boldness influence all +people, whether Arabs, Persians, Bedaween, or others." But for this +strong will, this indomitable resolution, Madame Pfeiffer assuredly could +not have succeeded in the enterprises she so daringly undertook. Even +for a man to have accomplished them would have earned our praise; what +shall we not say when they were conceived and carried out by a woman? + +Towards evening, she says, to her great delight a caldron of mutton was +set on the fire. For eight days she had eaten nothing but bread, +cucumbers, and some dates; and therefore had a great desire for a hot and +more nutritious meal. But her appetite was greatly diminished when she +saw their style of cookery. The old woman (her guide's mother) threw +several handfuls of small grain, and a large quantity of onions, into a +panful of water to soften. In about half an hour she thrust her dirty +hands into the water, and mixed the whole together, now and then taking a +mouthful, and after chewing it, spitting it back again into the pan. Then +she took a dirty rag, strained through it the delicate mixture, and +poured it over the meat in the larger vessel. Madame Pfeiffer had firmly +resolved not to touch the dish, but when it was ready her longing for +food was so great, and so savoury was the smell, that she reflected that +what she had already eaten was probably not a whit cleaner; in short, for +once she proved false to her resolution. Eating, she was filled; and the +viands gave her increased strength. + +* * * * * + +On the 28th of June the caravan reached Erbil, the ancient Arbela, where +Alexander the Great defeated Darius and his Persian host. Next day they +crossed a broad river, on rafts of inflated skins, fastened together with +poles, and covered with reeds, canes, and plank. Rapidly traversing the +shrubless, herbless plains of Mesopotamia, they reached at length the +town of Mosul, the point from which travellers proceed to visit the ruins +of Nineveh. + +These have been so carefully explored and ably described by Layard and +the late George Smith, that it is needless to quote Madame Ida Pfeiffer's +superficial observations at any length. According to Strabo, Nineveh was +the greatest city in the Old World--larger even than Babylon; the +circumference of its walls was a three days' journey, and those walls +were defended by fifteen hundred towers. Now all is covered with earth, +and the ranges of hills and mounds that stretch across the wide gray +plain on the bank of the Tigris do but cover the ruins of the vast +Assyrian capital. Mr. Layard began his excavations in 1846, and his +labourers, digging deep into the hills, soon opened up spacious and +stately apartments, the marble walls of which were embellished from top +to bottom with sculptures, revealing a complete panorama of Assyrian +life! Kings with their crowns and sceptres, gods swooping on broad +pinions, warriors equipped with their arms and shields, were there; also +stirring representations of battles and hunting expeditions, of the +storming of fortresses, of triumphal processions; though, unfortunately +for artistic effect, neither proportion, perspective, nor correct drawing +had been observed. The hills are scarcely three times higher than the +men; the fields reach to the clouds; the trees are no taller than the +lotus-flowers; and the heads of men and animals are all alike, and all in +profile. Intermingled with these scenes of ancient civilization are +inscriptions of great interest, in the cuneiform or wedge-shaped +character. + +* * * * * + +A caravan starting from Mosul for Tabreez, Madame Ida Pfeiffer determined +on joining it, though warned that it would traverse a country containing +not a single European. But, as we have already had abundant evidence, +Madame Pfeiffer knew not what fear was. Nothing could daunt her fixed +purpose. She had made up her mind to go to Persia; and to Persia she +would go. She started with the caravan on the 8th of July, and next day +crossed the hills that intervene between Mesopotamia and Kurdistan. The +latter country has never enjoyed a good reputation among travellers; and +Madame Pfeiffer's experience was not calculated to retrieve its +character. The caravan was crossing a corn-field which had been recently +reaped, when half-a-dozen stalwart Kurds, armed with stout cudgels, +sprang out from their hiding-place among the sheaves, and seizing the +travellers' bridles, poured out upon them what was unmistakably a volley +of oaths and threats. One of the travellers leaped from his steed, +seized his assailant by the throat, and holding a loaded pistol to his +head, indicated his determination of blowing out his brains. The effect +of this resolute conduct was immediate; the robbers desisted from their +attack, and were soon engaged in quite an amicable conversation with +those they had intended to plunder. At last they pointed out a good +place for an encampment, receiving in return a trifling _backshish_, +collected from the whole caravan. + +A few days later, the travellers, having started at two in the morning, +entered a magnificent mountain-valley, which had been cloven through the +solid rock by the waters of a copious stream. A narrow stony path +followed the course of the stream upward. The moon shone in unclouded +light; or it would have been difficult even for the well-trained horses +of the caravan to have kept their footing along the dangerous way, +encumbered as it was with fallen masses of rock. + +Like chamois, however, they scrambled up the steep mountain-side, and +safely carried their riders round frightful projections and past +dangerous, dizzy precipices. So wild, so romantic was the scene, with +its shifting lights and shadows, its sudden bursts of silvery lustre +where the valley lay open to the moon, and its depths of darkness in many +a winding recess, that even Madame Pfeiffer's uncultured companions were +irresistibly moved by its influence; and as they rode along not a sound +was heard but the clatter of the horses' hoofs, and the fall of rolling +stones into the chasm below. But all at once thick clouds gathered over +the moon, and the gloom became so intense that the travellers could +scarcely discern each one his fellow. The leader continually struck fire +with a flint, that the sparks might afford some slight indication of the +proper course. But this was not enough; and as the horses began to miss +their footing, the only hope of safety consisted in remaining immovable. +With the break of day, however, a gray light spread over the scene, and +the travellers found themselves surrounded by a circle of lofty +mountains, rising one above the other in magnificent gradation, and +superbly dominated by one mighty snow-crowned mass. + +The journey was resumed. Soon the travellers became aware of the fact +that the path was sprinkled with spots of blood. At last they came to a +place which was crimsoned by a complete pool; and looking down into the +ravine, they could see two human bodies, one lying scarcely a hundred +feet below them, the other, which had rolled further, half hidden by a +projecting crag. From this scene of murder they gladly hastened. + +* * * * * + +At a town called Ravandus Madame Pfeiffer rested for some days, making +observations on the manners and customs of the Kurds. She was not +prepossessed in their favour by what she saw: the women are idle, +ignorant, and squalid; the men work as little and rob as much as they +can. Polygamy is practised; and religion is reduced to the performance +of a few formalities. The costume of the wealthier Kurds is purely +Oriental, that of the common people varies from it a little. The men +wear wide linen trousers, and over them a shirt confined by a girdle, +with a sleeveless woollen jacket, made of stuff of only a hand's-breadth +wide, and sewed together. Instead of white trousers, some wear brown, +which are anything but picturesque, and look like sacks with two holes +for the insertion of the feet,--the said feet being encased in boots of +red or yellow leather, with large iron heels; or in shoes of coarse white +wool, adorned with three tassels. The turban is the universal +head-covering. + +The women don loose trousers, and red or yellow boots, with iron heels, +like the men; but over all they wear a long blue garment which, if not +tucked up under the girdle, would depend some inches below the ankles. A +large blue shawl descends below the knee. Round their heads they twist +black shawls, turban-wise; or they wear the red fez, with a silk +handkerchief wound about it; and on the top of this, a kind of wreath +made of short black fringe, worn like a diadem, but leaving the forehead +free. The hair falls in narrow braids over the shoulders, and from the +turban droops a heavy silver chain. As a head-dress it is remarkably +attractive; and it is but just to say that it often sets off really +handsome faces, with fine features, and glowing eyes. + +[Tartar Caravan: page119.jpg] + +* * * * * + +In her further wanderings through the wild lands of Persia, our traveller +came to Urumiyeh, on the borders of the salt lake of that name, which in +several physical features closely resembles the Dead Sea. Urumiyeh is a +place of some celebrity, for it gave birth to Zoroaster, the preacher of +a creed of considerable moral purity, which has spread over a great part +of Asia. Entering a more fertile country, she reached Tabreez in safety, +and was once more within the influence of law and order. Tabreez, the +residence of the viceroy, is a handsomely-built town, with numerous silk +and leather manufactories, and is reputed to be one of the chief seats of +Asiatic commerce. Its streets are clean and tolerably broad; in each a +little rivulet is carried underground, with openings at regular intervals +for the purpose of dipping out water. Of the houses the passer-by sees +no more than is seen in any other Oriental town: lofty walls, windowless, +with low entrances; and the fronts always looking in upon the open +courtyards, which bloom with trees and flowers, and usually adjoin a +pleasant garden. Inside, the chambers are usually lofty and spacious, +with rows of windows which seem to form complete walls of glass. +Buildings of public importance there are none; excepting the bazaar, +which covers a considerable area, and is laid out with lofty, broad, and +covered thoroughfares. + +The traveller turned her back upon Tabreez on the 11th of August, and in +a carriage drawn by post-horses, and attended by a single servant, set +out for Natschivan. At Arax she crossed the frontier of Asiatic Russia, +the dominions of the "White Tsar," who, in Asia as in Europe, is ever +pressing more and more closely on the "unspeakable Turk." At Natschivan +she joined a caravan which was bound for Tiflis, and the drivers of which +were Tartars. She says of the latter, that they do not live so frugally +as the Arabs. Every evening a savoury pillau was made with good-tasting +fat, frequently with dried grapes or plums. They also partook largely of +fruits. + +The caravan wound through the fair and fertile valleys which lie at the +base of Ararat. Of that famous and majestic mountain, which lifts its +white glittering crest of snow some sixteen thousand feet above the sea- +level, our traveller obtained a fine view. Its summit is cloven into two +peaks, and in the space between an old tradition affirms that Noah's ark +landed at the subsidence of the Great Flood. + +[Mount Ararat: page123.jpg] + +In the neighbourhood of a town called Sidin, Madame Pfeiffer met with a +singular adventure. She was returning from a short walk, when, hearing +the sound of approaching post-horses, she paused for a minute to see the +travellers, and noticed a Russian, seated in an open car, with a Cossack +holding a musket by his side. As soon as the vehicle had passed, she +resumed her course; when, to her astonishment, it suddenly stopped, and +almost at the same moment she felt a fierce grasp on her arms. It was +the Cossack, who endeavoured to drag her to the car. She struggled with +him, and pointing to the caravan, said she belonged to it; but the fellow +put his hand on her mouth, and flung her into the car, where she was +firmly seized by the Russian. Then the Cossack sprang to his seat, and +away they went at a smart gallop. The whole affair was the work of a few +seconds, so that Madame Pfeiffer could scarcely recognize what had +happened. As the man still held her tightly, and kept her mouth covered +up, she was unable to give an alarm. The brave woman, however, retained +her composure, and speedily arrived at the conclusion that her "heroic" +captors had mistaken her for some dangerous spy. Uncovering her mouth, +they began to question her closely; and Madame Pfeiffer understood enough +Russian to tell them her name, native country, and object in travelling. +This did not satisfy them, and they asked for her passport,--which, +however, she could not show them, as it was in her portmanteau. + +At length they reached the post-house. Madame Pfeiffer was shown into a +room, at the door of which the Cossack stationed himself with his musket. +She was detained all night; but the next morning, having fetched her +portmanteau, they examined her passport, and were then pleased to dismiss +her--without, however, offering any apology for their shameful treatment +of her. Such are the incivilities to which travellers in the Russian +dominions are too constantly exposed. It is surprising that a powerful +government should condescend to so much petty fear and mean suspicion. + +[Odessa: page127.jpg] + +From Tiflis our traveller proceeded across Georgia to Redutkali; whence +she made her way to Kertsch, on the shore of the Sea of Azov; and thence +to Sebastopol, destined a few years later to become the scene of an +historic struggle. She afterwards reached Odessa, one of the great +granaries of Europe, situated at the mouth of the Dniester and the +Dnieper. From Odessa to Constantinople the distance by sea is four +hundred and twenty miles. She made but a short stay in the Turkish +capital; and then proceeded by steamer to Smyrna, passing through the +maze of the beautiful isles of Greece; and from Smyrna to Athens. Here +she trod on hallowed ground. Every temple, every ruin, recalled to her +some brave deed of old, or some illustrious name of philosopher, warrior, +statesman, poet, that the world will not willingly let die. A rush of +stirring glorious memories swept over her mind as she gazed on the lofty +summit of the Acropolis, covered with memorials of the ancient art, and +associated with the great events of Athenian history. The Parthenon, or +Temple of Pallas; the Temple of Theseus; that of Olympian Jove; the Tower +of the Winds, or so-called Lantern of Demosthenes; and the Choragic +Monument of Lysicrates,--all these she saw, and wondered at. But they +have been so frequently described, that we may pass them here with this +slight reference. + +From Corinth our traveller crossed to Corfu, and from Corfu ascended the +Adriatic to Trieste. A day or two afterwards she was received by her +friends at Vienna,--having accomplished the most extraordinary journey +ever undertaken by a woman, and made the complete circuit of the world. +In the most remarkable scenes, and in the most critical positions, she +had preserved a composure, a calmness of courage, and a simplicity of +conduct, that must always command our admiration. + + + + +CHAPTER III.--NORTHWARD. + + +In giving to the world a narrative of her journey to Iceland, and her +wanderings through Norway and Sweden, Madame Pfeiffer anticipated certain +objections that would be advanced by the over-refined. "Another journey +!" she supposed them to exclaim; "and that to regions far more likely to +repel than attract the general traveller! What object could this woman +have had in visiting them, but a desire to excite our astonishment and +raise our curiosity? We might have been induced to pardon her pilgrimage +to the Holy Land, though it was sufficiently hazardous for a solitary +woman, because it was prompted, perhaps, by her religious feelings,--and +incredible things, as we all know, are frequently accomplished under such +an impulse. But, for the present expedition, what reasonable motive can +possibly be suggested?" + +Madame Pfeiffer remarks that in all this a great injustice is, or would +be, done to her; that she was a plain, inoffensive creature, and by no +means desirous of drawing upon herself the observation of the crowd. As +a matter of fact, she was but following the bent of her natural +disposition. From her earliest childhood she had yearned to go forth +into the wide world. She could never meet a travelling-carriage without +stopping to watch it, and envying the postilion who drove it or the +persons it conveyed. When she was ten or twelve years old, no reading +had such a charm for her as books of voyages and travels; and then she +began to repine at the happiness of every great navigator or discoverer, +whose boldness revealed to him the secrets of lands and seas before +unknown. + +She travelled much with her parents, and afterwards with her husband, and +thus her natural bias was encouraged. It was not until her two sons were +of age to be educated that she remained stationary--on their account. As +the business concerns of her husband required his presence alternately in +Vienna and in Lemberg, he intrusted to his wife the responsible duty of +superintending their education--feeling assured that, with her +perseverance and affection, she could supply the place of both parents. + +When this duty was discharged, and the education of her sons completed, +the dreams and fancies of her youth once more revived within her. She +thought of the manners and customs of foreign lands, of remote islands +girdled by the "melancholy main," and dwelt so long on the great joy of +treading "the blessed acres" trodden by the Saviour's feet, that at last +she resolved on a pilgrimage thither. She made the journey to Palestine. +She visited Jerusalem, and other hallowed scenes, and she returned in +safety. She came, therefore, to the conclusion that she was not +presumptuously tempting the providence of God, or laying herself open to +the charge of wishing to excite the admiration of her contemporaries, if +she followed her inward impulse, and once more adventured forth to see +the world. She knew that travel could not but broaden her views, elevate +her thoughts, and inspire her with new sympathies. Iceland, the next +object of her desires, was a country where she hoped to see Nature under +an entirely novel and peculiar aspect. "I feel," she says, "so +wonderfully happy, and draw so close to my Maker, while gazing upon such +scenes, that no difficulties or fatigues can deter me from seeking so +great a reward." + +* * * * * + +It was in the year 1845 that Madame Pfeiffer began her northward journey. +She left Vienna on the 10th of April, and by way of Prague, Dresden, and +Altona, proceeded to Kiel. Thence the steamer carried her to Copenhagen, +a city of which she speaks in favourable terms. She notices its numerous +splendid palaces; its large and regular squares; its broad and handsome +promenades. At the Museum of Art she was interested by the chair which +Tycho Brahe, the astronomer, formerly used; and at the Thorvaldsen +Museum, the colossal lion executed by the great Danish sculptor. Having +seen all that was to be seen, she took ship for Iceland, passing +Helsingborg on the Swedish coast, and Elsinore on the Danish, the latter +associated with Shakespeare's "Hamlet;" and, through the Sound and the +Cattegat, entering upon the restless waters of the North Sea. Iceland +came in sight on the seventh day of a boisterous voyage, which had tried +our traveller somewhat severely; and at the close of the eleventh day she +reached Havenfiord, an excellent harbour, two miles from Reikiavik, the +capital of Iceland. + +Her first impressions of the Icelandic coast, she says, were very +different from the descriptions she had read in books. She had conceived +of a barren desolate waste, shrubless and treeless; and she saw grassy +hillocks, leafy copses, and even, as she thought, patches of dwarfish +woods. But as she drew nearer, and could distinguish the different +objects more plainly, the hillocks were transformed into human +habitations, with small doors and windows; and the groups of trees proved +to be huge lava masses, from ten to fifteen feet in height, entirely +overgrown with verdure and moss. Everything was new, was surprising; and +it was with pleasurable sensations of excitement and curiosity that +Madame Pfeiffer landed on the shores of Ultima Thule. + +[Reikiavik: page135.jpg] + +* * * * * + +At Reikiavik she found the population inhabiting two very different +classes of habitations. The wooden houses of the well-to-do are of a +single story, she says, with five or six windows in front. A low flight +of steps conducts to an entrance in the centre of the building; and this +entrance opens into a vestibule, where two doors communicate with the +rooms on the right and left respectively. In the rear is the kitchen, +and beyond the courtyard. Such a house contains four or five rooms on +the ground-floor, and a few small chambers under the roof. The domestic +or household arrangements are entirely European. The furniture, much of +which is mahogany, comes from Copenhagen, which also supplies the mirrors +and cast-iron stoves. Handsome rugs are spread in front of the sofas; +neat curtains drop before the windows; English engravings ornament the +whitewashed walls; and china, silver, and cut-glass, and the like, are +displayed upon the cabinets or corner-tables. + +But the poor live in huts which are decidedly much more Icelandic. They +are small and low; built of lava blocks, filled in with earth; and as the +whole is covered with turf, they might almost be mistaken for natural +elevations of the ground, if the wooden chimneys, and low doors, and +almost imperceptible windows, did not betray that they were tenanted by +human beings. A dark, narrow passage, not more than four feet high, +leads on one hand to the living-room, on the other to the store-room, +where the provisions are kept, and where, in winter, the cows and sheep +are stabled. The fireplace is generally at the end of this passage, +which is purposely built low to keep out the cold. Neither the walls nor +floors of these huts are boarded; the dwelling-rooms are scarcely large +enough for people to sleep in or turn round in; and the whole furniture +consists of the bedsteads (very poorly supplied with bedding), a small +table, and a few chests--the latter, as well as the beds, being used for +seats. To poles fastened in the walls are suspended clothes, shoes, +stockings, and other articles; and in each hut is generally found a tiny +book-shelf supporting a few volumes. No stoves are needed in these +rooms, which are sufficiently warmed by the presence of their numerous +inmates. + +Speaking of the better classes of the inhabitants of the Icelandic +capital, our traveller says: "Nothing struck me so much as the great +dignity of carriage at which the Icelandic ladies aim, and which is so +apt to degenerate into stiffness when it is not perfectly natural, or has +not become a second nature by habit. They incline their head very coolly +when you meet them, with less civility than we should use towards an +inferior or a stranger. The lady of the house never accompanies her +guests beyond the door of the room, after a call; if the husband is +present, he goes a little further; but when this is not the case, you are +often at a loss which way to turn, as there is no servant on the spot to +open the street door for you, unless it may happen to be in the house of +the Stiftsamtmann, the first dignitary of the island." + +The church at Reikiavik is capable of accommodating about one hundred and +fifty persons; it is built of stone, with a wooden roof, under which is +kept a library of several thousand volumes. It possesses an artistic +treasure of no ordinary value in a font by Thorvaldsen, whose parents +were natives of Iceland, though he himself was born in Denmark. Captain +Burton describes it as the ancient classical altar, with basso-relievos +on all four sides--subjects of course evangelical; on the top an alto- +relievo of symbolical flowers, roses, and passiflorae is cut to support +the normal "Dobefal," or baptismal basin. In the sacristy are preserved +some handsome priestly robes--especially the velvet vestment sent by Pope +Julius II. to the last Roman Catholic bishop in the early part of the +sixteenth century, and still worn by the chief Protestant dignitary at +ordinations. + +The climate at Reikiavik would be considered severe by an Englishman. The +thermometer sometimes sinks as low as 13 degrees below zero, and the sea +is covered with ice for several feet from the shore. The storms and snow- +drifts are of the most terrible character, and at times even the boldest +Icelander dares not cross his threshold. Daylight does not last more +than four or five hours; but the long night is illuminated by the +splendid coruscations of the aurora, filling the firmament with +many-coloured flame. From the middle until the end of June, however, +there is no night. The sun sinks for a short time below the hills, but +twilight blends with the dawn, and before the last rays of evening have +faded from the sky the morning light streams forth with renewed +brilliancy. + +* * * * * + +Then, as to the people, Madame Pfeiffer speaks of them as of medium +height and strength. Their hair is light, and frequently has a reddish +tint; their eyes are blue. The women are more prepossessing in +appearance than the men; and pleasing faces are not uncommon among the +young girls. They wear long skirts of coarse black woollen stuff, with +spencers, and coloured aprons. They cover their heads with a man's cap +of the same material as their petticoats, ending in a drooping point, to +which hangs a woollen or silken tassel, falling as low as the shoulders. +This simple head-dress is not inelegant. All the women have an abundance +of hair hanging picturesquely about their face and neck; they wear it +loose and short, and it is sometimes curled. + +The men appear to dress very much like the German peasants. They wear +pantaloons, jackets, and vests of dark cloth, with a felt hat or fur cap, +and the feet wrapped in pieces of skin, either seal, sheep, or calf. + +* * * * * + +Here, as a corrective, and for the sake of comparison, let us refer to +Captain Burton's description. The men dress, he says, like sailors, in +breeches, jackets serving as coats, and vests of good broadcloth, with +four to six rows of buttons, always metal, either copper or silver. The +fishermen wear overcoats, coarse smooth waistcoats, large paletots, made +waterproof by grease or fish-liver oil; leather overalls, stockings, and +native shoes. The women attire themselves in jackets and gowns, +petticoats and aprons of woollen frieze; over which is thrown a "hempa," +or wide black robe, like a Jesuit frock, trimmed with velvet binding. The +wealthy add silver ornaments down the length of the dress, and braid the +other articles with silk ribbons, galloon, or velvets of various colours. +The ruff forms a stiff collar, from three to four inches broad, of very +fine stuff, embroidered with gold or silver. The conical head-dress, +resembling a fool's-cap or sugar-loaf, measures two or three feet high, +and is kept in its place by a coarse cloth, and covered with a finer +kerchief. The soleless shoes of ox-hide or sheepskin, made by the women +out of a single piece, are strapped to the instep. + +* * * * * + +Having made herself generally acquainted with the Icelanders and their +mode of living, Madame Pfeiffer began to visit the most romantic and +interesting spots in the island accessible to an adventurous woman. At +first she confined herself to the neighbourhood of Reikiavik. She +journeyed, for instance, to the island of Vidoe, the cliffs of which are +frequented by the eider-duck. Its tameness while brooding is very +remarkable. "I had always looked," she says, "on the wonderful stories I +had heard on this subject as fabulous, and should do still had I not been +an eye-witness to the fact. I approached and laid my hands on the birds +while they were sitting; yes, I could even caress them without their +attempting to move from their nests; or, if they left them for a moment, +it was only to walk off for a few steps, and remain quietly waiting till +I withdrew, when they immediately returned to their station. Those whose +young were already hatched, however, would beat their wings with +violence, and snap at me with their bills when I came near them, rather +allowing themselves to be seized than to desert their broods. In size +they resemble our common duck; their eggs are of a greenish-gray, rather +larger than hens' eggs, and of an excellent flavour. Each bird lays +about eleven eggs. The finest down is that with which they line their +nests at first; it is of a dark gray, and is regularly carried off by the +islanders with the first eggs. The poor bird then robs itself of a +second portion of its down, and lays a few more eggs, which are also +seized; and it is not till the nest has been felted for the third time +that the ducks are left unmolested to bring up their brood. The down of +the second, and particularly that of the third hatching, is much lighter +than the first, and of an inferior quality." + +The salmon-fishery at the Larsalf next engaged our traveller's attention. +It is conducted after a primitively simple fashion. When the fish at +spawning-time seek the quiet waters of the inland stream, their way back +to the sea is blocked up by an embankment of loose stones, about three +feet high. In front of this wall is extended a net; and several similar +barriers are erected at intervals of eighty to a hundred paces, to +prevent the fish which have slipped over one of them from finally +accomplishing their escape. A day is appointed for a grand _battue_. The +water is then let off as much as possible; and the ensnared fish, feeling +it grow shallower, dart hither and thither in frantic confusion, and +eventually gather together in such a mass that the fishermen have only to +thrust in their hands and seize their prey. + +Yet _some_ degree of skill is necessary, for, as everybody knows, the +salmon is full of vivacity, and both strong and swift. So the fisher +takes his victim dexterously by head and tail, and throws it ashore +immediately. It is caught up by persons who are specially appointed to +this duty, and flung to a still greater distance from the stream. Were +not this done, and done quickly, many a fine fellow would escape. It is +strange to see the fish turn round in the hands of their captors, and +leap into the air, so that if the fishermen were not provided with +woollen mittens, they could not keep their hold of the slippery creatures +at all. In these wholesale razzias, from five hundred to a thousand fish +are generally taken at a time, each one weighing from five to fifteen +pounds. + +[Salmon-fishing in Iceland: page145.jpg] + +* * * * * + +Iceland may, with little exaggeration, be described as nothing more than +a stratum of snow and ice overlying a mass of fire and vapour and boiling +water. Nowhere else do we see the two elements of frost and fire in such +immediate contiguity. The icy plains are furrowed by lower currents, and +in the midst of wastes of snow rise the seething ebullitions of hot +springs. Several of the snow-shrouded mountains of Iceland are volcanic. +In the neighbourhood of Kriservick Madame Pfeiffer saw a long, wide +valley, traversed by a current of lava, half a mile in length; a current +consisting not merely of isolated blocks and stones, but of large masses +of porous rock, ten or twelve feet high, frequently broken up by fissures +a foot wide. + +Six miles further, and our traveller entered another valley, where, from +the sulphur-springs and hills, rose numerous columns of smoke. Ascending +the neighbouring hills, she saw a truly remarkable scene: basins filled +with bubbling waters, and vaporous shafts leaping up from the fissures in +the hills and plains. By keeping to windward, she was able to approach +very near these phenomenal objects; the ground was lukewarm in a few +places, and she could hold her hand for several minutes at a time over +the cracks whence the vapour escaped. No water was visible. The roar +and hiss of the steam, combined with the violence of the wind, made a +noise so deafening that she was glad to quit the scene, and feel a safer +soil beneath her feet. It seemed to her excited fancy as if the entire +mountain were converted into a boiling caldron. + +Descending into the plain, she found there much to interest her. Here a +basin was filled with boiling mud; there, from another basin, burst forth +a column of steam with fearful violence. Several hot springs bubbled and +bubbled around. "These spots," says our traveller, "were far more +dangerous than any on the hills; in spite of the utmost caution, we often +sank in above our ankles, and drew back our feet in dread, covered with +the damp exhalations, which, with steam or boiling water, also escaped +from the opening. I allowed my guide to feel his way in front of me with +a stick; but, notwithstanding his precaution, he went through in one +place half-way to his knee--though he was so used to the danger that he +treated it very lightly, and stopped quite phlegmatically at the next +spring to cleanse himself from the mud. Being also covered with it to +the ankles, I followed his example." + +* * * * * + +We must now accompany our traveller on some longer excursions. + +And first, to Thingvalla, the place where, of old, the Althing or island- +parliament was annually held. One side of the great valley of council is +bounded by the sea, the other by a fine range of peaks, always more or +less covered with snow. Through the pass of the Almannagja we descend +upon the Thingvallavatn lake, an expanse of placid blue, about thirty +miles in circuit. While our attention is rivetted on the lake and the +dark brown hills which encircle it, a chasm suddenly, and as if by +enchantment, opens at our feet, separating us from the valleys beyond. It +varies from thirty to forty feet in width, is several hundred feet in +depth, and four miles in length. + +"We were compelled," says Madame Pfeiffer, "to descend its steep and +dangerous sides by a narrow path leading over fragments of lava. My +uneasiness increased as we went down, and could see the colossal masses, +in the shape of pillars or columns tottering loosely on the brink of the +precipice above our heads, threatening death and desolation at any +moment. Mute and anxious, we crept along in breathless haste, scarcely +venturing to raise our eyes, much less to give vent to the least +expression of alarm, for fear of starting the avalanche of stone, of the +impetuous force of which we could form some idea by the shattered rocks +around us. The echo is very remarkable, and gives back the faintest +whisper with perfect distinctness." + +* * * * * + +Every traveller to Iceland feels bound to visit its Geysirs, and Madame +Pfeiffer did as others did. From Thingvalla she rode for some distance +along the side of the lakes, and then struck through a rocky pass of a +very difficult character, into a series of valleys of widely different +aspect. At last she came to a stream which flowed over a bed of lava, +and between banks of lava, with great rapidity and a rushing, roaring +sound. At one point the river-bed was cleft through its centre, to the +depth of eighteen or twenty feet, by a chasm from fifteen to eighteen +feet wide, into which the waters pour with considerable violence. A +bridge in the middle of the river spans this rift, and the stranger who +reaches the banks feels unable to account for its appearance among the +cloud of spray which entirely conceals the chasm in the bed of the +stream. + +Into her description of the passage of the river it is to be feared that +Madame Pfeiffer introduces a little exaggeration. The waters roar, she +says, with the utmost violence, and dashing wildly into the cavity, they +form falls on both sides of it, or shiver themselves to spray against the +projecting cliffs; at the extremity of the chasm, which is not far from +the bridge, the stream is precipitated in its whole breadth over rocks +from thirty to forty feet in height. "Our horses began to tremble, and +struggled to escape when we drew near the most furious part of the +torrent, where the noise was really deafening; and it was not without the +greatest difficulty we succeeded in making them obey the reins, and bear +us through the foaming waves by which the bridge was washed." Either the +scene has greatly altered since Madame Pfeiffer's visit, or her +imagination has considerably over-coloured its principal features. That +is, if we accept the accounts of recent travellers, and especially that +of Captain Burton, who has laboured so successfully to reduce the romance +of Icelandic travel to plain matter of fact. + +[Great Geysir: page153.jpg] + +The Geysirs lie within a comparatively limited area, and consist of +various specimens, differing considerably in magnitude. The basin of the +Great Geysir lies on a gentle elevation, about ten feet above the plain; +it measures about one hundred and fifty feet in diameter, while that of +the seething caldron is ten feet. Both caldron and basin, on the +occasion of Madame Pfeiffer's visit, were full to the brim with crystal- +clear water in a state of slight ebullition. At irregular intervals a +column of water is shot perpendicularly upwards from the centre of the +caldron, the explosion being always preceded by a low rumbling; but she +was not so fortunate as to witness one of these eruptions. Lord +Dufferin, however, after three days' watch, was rewarded for his +patience. The usual underground thunder having been heard, he and his +friends rushed to the spot. A violent agitation was convulsing the +centre of the pool. Suddenly a crystal dome lifted itself up to the +height of eight or ten feet, and then fell; immediately after which, a +shining liquid column, or rather a sheaf of columns, wreathed in robes of +vapour, sprang into the air, and in a succession of jerking leaps, each +higher than its predecessor, flung their silver crests against the sky. +For a few minutes the fountain held its own, then all at once appeared to +lose its ascending power. The unstable waters faltered, drooped, fell, +"like a broken purpose," back upon themselves, and were immediately +absorbed in the depths of the subterranean shaft. + +About one hundred and forty yards distant is the Strokkr, or "churn," +with a basin about seven feet wide in its outer, and eighteen feet in its +inner diameter. A funnel or inverted cone in shape, whereas the Great +Geysir is a mound and a cylinder, it gives the popular idea of a crater. +Its surface is "an ugly area of spluttering and ever boiling water." It +frequently "erupts," and throws a spout into the air, sometimes as high +as forty or fifty feet, the outbursts lasting from ten to thirty minutes. +Madame Pfeiffer had not the luck to see it in its grandest moods; the +highest eruption she saw did not rise above thirty feet, nor last more +than fifteen minutes. An eruption can be produced by throwing into the +caldron a sufficient quantity of turf or stones. + +Two remarkable springs lie directly above the Geysirs, in openings +separated by a barrier of rock--which, however, rise nowhere above the +level of the ground. Their waters boil very gently, with an equable and +almost rhythmic flow. The charm of these springs lies in their wonderful +transparency and clearness. All the prominent points and corners, the +varied outlines of the cavities, and the different recesses, can be +distinguished far within the depths, until the eye is lost in the +darkness of the abyss; and the luminous effects upon the rocks lend an +additional beauty to the scene, which has all the magic of the poet's +fairy-land. It is illumined by a radiance of a soft pale blue and green, +which reaches only a few inches from the rocky barrier, leaving the +waters beyond in colourless transparency. The light, to all appearance, +seems reflected from the rock, but is really owing to atmospheric causes. + +* * * * * + +From the Geysirs, Madame Pfeiffer proceeded towards Hekla; and at the +village of Thorfustadir, on the route, had an opportunity of seeing an +Icelandic funeral. On entering the church she found the mourners +consoling themselves with a dram of brandy. On the arrival of the +priest, a psalm or prayer was screamed, under his direction, by a chosen +number of the congregation; each shouting his loudest, until he was +completely out of breath. The priest, standing by the coffin, which, for +lack of better accommodation, was resting on one of the seats, read in a +loud voice a prayer of more than half an hour's duration. The body was +then borne to the grave, which was one of remarkable depth; and the +coffin being duly lowered, the priest threw earth upon it thrice, thus +terminating the ceremony. + +At the little village of Skalholt, where the first Icelandic bishopric +was established in 1095, Madame Pfeiffer was invited to visit the church, +and inspect its treasures. She was shown the grave of the first bishop, +Thorlakur, whose memory is cherished as that of a saint; an old +embroidered robe, and a plain gold chalice, both of which probably +belonged to him; and, in an antique chest, some dusty books in the +Iceland dialect, besides three ponderous folios in German, containing the +letters, epistles, and treatises of Martin Luther. + +Continuing her journey, she arrived at the little village of Salsun, +which lies at the foot of Mount Hekla. Here she secured the services of +a guide, and made preparations for the ascent of the famous volcano. +These included the purchase of a store of bread and cheese, and the +supply of a bottle of water for herself, and one of brandy for the guide, +besides long sticks, shod with iron, to steady the adventurers' +footsteps. + +The day fixed for the expedition opened brightly and warmly. At first +the road led through fields of tolerable fertility, covered with a rich +green herbage, soft as velvet; and then traversed patches of black sand, +surrounded by hills, and blocks, and currents of lava. By degrees it +grew more difficult, and was so encumbered with lava as greatly to impede +the progress of the travellers. Around and behind them rolled the dark +congealed lava; and it was needful to be constantly on the watch, to +prevent themselves from stumbling, or to avoid rude contact with the +rolling rocks. Greater still was the danger in the rifts and gorges +filled with snow moistening already in the summer heat; here they +frequently broke through the deceptive crust, or at every step slipped +backwards almost as far as they had advanced. + +[Mount Hekla: page159.jpg] + +At length they reached a point where it became necessary to leave behind +the horses, and trust entirely to their own strength. Laboriously, but +undauntedly, Madame Pfeiffer pressed upward. Yet, as she looked around +on the sterile scene, which seemed to have been swept by a blast of fire, +and on the drear expanse of black lava that surrounded her, Madame +Pfeiffer could scarcely repress a sensation of pain and terror. + +They had still, she says, three heights to climb; the last of which was +also the most dangerous. The path clambered up the rocks which covered +the entire area of the mountain-summit. Frequent were our traveller's +falls; her hands were sadly wounded by the sharp jagged projections of +the lava; and her eyes suffered severely from the dazzling brilliancy of +the snow that filled every gorge and ravine. + +But every obstacle gives way to the resolute; and at last Madame Pfeiffer +stood on the topmost peak of Hekla. Here she made a discovery: in books +of travel she had read of the crater of Mount Hekla, but a careful survey +convinced her that none existed. There was neither opening, crevasse, +nor sunken wall; in fact, no sign of a crater. Lower down on the +mountain-side she detected some wide fissures; and from these, not from +any crater, must have rolled the lava-rivers. The height of the mountain +is computed at 5110 feet. + +During the last hour of the ascent the sun had been veiled in mists, and +from the neighbouring glaciers dense clouds now poured down upon them, +obscuring or concealing the entire prospect. Fortunately, they gradually +dissolved into snow, which spread a carpet, white and soft and +glittering, over the dreary lava. The thermometer stood at 29.75 degrees +F. + +The snow-storm passed, and the sun once more gladdened earth, and filled +with light the clear blue arch of the firmament. On her elevated +watchtower stood the adventurous traveller, till the clouds, passing +away, opened up to her wondering gaze the glorious view--glorious, yet +terrible! It seemed as if the ruins of a burned-up world lay all around: +the wastes were strewn with masses of lava; of life not a sign was +visible; blocks of barren lava were piled upon one another in chaotic +confusion; and vast streams of indurated volcanic matter choked up every +valley. + +"Here, on the topmost peak of Hekla," writes Madame Pfeiffer, "I could +look down far and wide upon the uninhabited land, the image of a torpid +nature, passionless, inanimate, and yet sublime,--an image which, once +seen, can never be forgotten, and the remembrance of which will +compensate me amply for all the toils and difficulties I have endured. A +whole world of glaciers, lava-peaks, fields of snow and ice, rivers and +miniature lakes, were comprehended in that magnificent prospect; and the +foot of man had never yet ventured within these regions of gloom and +solitude. How terrible must have been the resistless fury of the element +which has produced all these changes! And is its rage now silenced for +ever? Will it be satisfied with the ruin it has wrought? Or does it +slumber only to break forth again with renewed strength, and lay waste +those few cultivated spots which are scattered so sparingly throughout +the land? I thank God that he has allowed me to see this chaos of his +creation; and I doubly thank him that my lot was cast in these fair +plains where the sun does more than divide the day from the night; where +it warms and animates plant-life and animal-life; where it awakens in the +heart of man the deepest feelings of gratitude towards his Maker." + +On her way down our traveller discovered that the snow had not melted for +the first five or six hundred feet. Below that distance the mountain- +sides were enveloped in a shroud of vapour. That glossy, coal-black, +shining lava, which is never porous, can be found only at Hekla and in +its immediate vicinity; but the other varieties, jagged, porous, and +vitrified, are also met with, though they are invariably black, as is the +sand which covers the side of the mountain. As the distance from the +volcano increases, the lava loses its jet-black colour, and fades into an +iron-gray. + +After an absence of twelve hours, Madame Pfeiffer reached Salsun in +safety. + +Six-and-twenty eruptions of Hekla have been recorded,--the last having +occurred in 1845-46. One was prolonged for a period of six years, +spreading desolation over a country which had formerly been the seat of a +prosperous settlement, and burying the cultivated fields beneath a flood +of lava, scoriae, and ashes. During the eruption of 1845-46, three new +crater-vents were formed, from which sprang columns of fire and smoke to +the height of 14,000 feet. The lava accumulated in formidable masses, +and fragments of scoriae and pumice-stone weighing two hundredweight were +thrown to a distance of a league and a half; while the ice and snow which +had lain on the mountain for centuries were liquefied, and rolled in +devastating torrents over the plains. + +Hekla is not the only volcanic mountain of Iceland. Mounts Leirhnukr and +Krabla, in the northeast, are very formidable; and one of the most +terrible eruptions recorded in the island annals was that of the Skapta +Jokul in 1783. + +We have now completed our summary of Madame Pfeiffer's Icelandic +excursions. From the country we may pass to its inhabitants, and +ascertain the deliberate opinion she had formed of them after an +experience extending over several weeks, and under conditions which +enabled so shrewd an observer as she was to judge them impartially. Her +estimate of their character is decidedly less favourable than that of her +predecessors; but it is to be noted that in almost every particular it is +confirmed by the latest authority, Captain Burton. And the evidence goes +to show that they are not the simple, generous, primitive, guileless +Arcadians which it had pleased some fanciful minds to portray. + +Their principal occupation consists in the fisheries, which are pursued +with the greatest activity during the months of February, March, and +April. The people from the interior then stream into the different +harbours, and bargain with the coast-population, the fishermen proper, to +help them for a share of the profits. On the other hand, in July and +August many of the coast-population penetrate inland, and lend their +services in the hay-harvest, for which they are paid in butter, wool, and +salted lamb. Others resort to the mountains in search of Iceland moss, +which they mix with milk, and use as an article of food; or grind it into +meal, and make cakes with it, as a substitute for bread. The labours of +the women consist in preparing the fish for drying, smoking, or salting; +in tending the cattle, in knitting, and gathering moss. During the +winter season both men and women knit uninterruptedly. + +Madame Pfeiffer thinks their hospitality has been overrated, and gives +them credit for the ability to make a good bargain. In fact, she saw +nothing of that disinterestedness which Dr. Henderson and other +travellers have ascribed to them. They are intolerably addicted to +brandy-drinking,--indeed, their circumstances would greatly improve if +they drank less and worked more. They are scarcely less passionately +addicted to snuff-taking, as well as to tobacco-chewing. Their mode of +taking snuff is peculiar, and certainly not one to be imitated. Most of +the peasants, and even many of the priests, have no snuff-boxes, but make +use instead of a piece of bone, turned in the shape of a little powder- +horn. When desirous of indulging in a little titillation, they throw +back their heads, and putting the point of the horn to their nostril, +empty in the snuff. So little fastidious are these devotees, that they +frequently pass on a horn from nose to nose, without the needless +formality of cleaning it. The mention of this practice leads Madame +Pfeiffer to comment very severely on the want of cleanliness among the +Icelanders, who are as dirty in their houses as in their persons. + +They are also remarkable for their laziness. There are many ample +stretches of meadow-land at a short distance from the coast, completely +covered with bog, and passable only with great precautions, which the +construction of a few ditches would thoroughly drain. Capital grass +would then spring up in abundant crops. It is well known that such will +grow in Iceland, for the hillocks which rise above the swamps are +luxuriantly overgrown with herbage and wild clover. The best soil is +found, it is said, on the north side of the island, where potatoes grow +very well, and also a few trees--which, however, do not exceed seven or +eight feet in height. The chief occupation of the northerners is cattle- +breeding, particularly in the interior, where some of the farmers own +three or four hundred sheep, ten or fifteen cows, and a dozen horses. +These, it is true, are exceptional cases; but, as a rule, the population +here are in much better circumstances than the wretched coast-population, +who chiefly rely on the products of their fisheries. + +* * * * * + +From Iceland Madame Pfeiffer embarked for Copenhagen on the 29th of July, +in the sloop _Haabet_ (the "Hope"), which proved by no means a vessel of +luxurious accommodation. Our resolute voyager gives an amusing account +of her trials. The fare, for instance, was better adapted for a hermit +than for a lady of gentle nurture; but it was sublimely impartial, being +exactly the same for captain, mate, crew, and passengers. For breakfast +they had wretched tea,--or rather, dirty tea-coloured water,--which the +common hands drank without any sugar. The officers made use of a small +lump of candy, holding it in their mouths, where it melted slowly, while +they swallowed cup after cup to moisten the hard ship-biscuit and rancid +butter. + +The dinners, however, showed a daily variation. First, a piece of salted +meat, which, having been soaked and boiled in sea-water, was so +intolerably hard, tough, and salt that it required the digestion of an +ostrich to overtake it. Instead of soup, vegetables, or dessert, barley +grits were served up, plainly boiled, without salt or butter, and eaten +with syrup and vinegar. On the second day, the _piece de resistance_ was +a lump of bacon, boiled in salt water; this was followed by the barley +grits. On the third day, cod-fish and pease; on the fourth, the same +bill of fare as on the first; and so on,--a cup of coffee, without milk, +closing the noonday meal. The evening's repast resembled that of the +morning, consisting of tea-water and ship-biscuit. + +So much for the fare. As to the "table appointments," they were +miserably meagre. The cloth was a piece of an old sail, so soiled and +dirty that it effectually deprived Madame Pfeiffer and her +fellow-passengers of any small appetite with which they might have sat +down to dinner. Madame Pfeiffer began to think that it would be better +to have no cloth at all. She was mistaken! One day she saw the steward +belabouring a piece of sailcloth, which was stretched on the deck under +his feet, to receive a good sweeping from the ship's broom. The numerous +spots of dirt and grease showed plainly that it was the table-cloth; and +that same evening the table was bare. The consequence was, that the +teapot had no sooner been placed upon it than it began to slide; and +nothing but the captain's adroitness prevented the entire "bill of fare" +from being poured into the laps of the guests. It then became evident +that + + A table-cloth all foul and stained + Is better far than none at all! + +The _Hope_ was twenty days at sea, and for twelve days out of sight of +land. She was wind-driven to the westward, so that her passengers saw +but few of the monsters of the Northern Seas. They caught sight of the +spout of a single whale in the distance; it rose in the air exactly like +a fountain-jet, but the animal itself was too far off for its huge +outlines to be discernible. One shark had the gallantry to swim round +them for a few minutes, affording them an opportunity of observing it +closely. It appeared to be from sixteen to eighteen feet in length. + +* * * * * + +The "unresting" traveller reached Copenhagen on the 19th of August, and +on the very same day embarked again for Sweden and Norway. + +Let us accompany her to Christiania. This town and its suburbs, the +fortress, the royal castle, the freemasons' lodge, and other buildings, +surmount the noble harbour in a stately semicircle; which, in its turn, +is enclosed by meadows, and woods, and green hills. As if loath to leave +a scene so charming, the blue sea winds in among the fields and vales to +some distance behind the town. + +The best part of Christiania is, not unnaturally, the latest built, where +the streets are broad and long, and the houses, both of brick and stone, +substantial. In the suburbs, most of the houses are of timber. Some of +the public edifices are architecturally conspicuous, particularly the new +castle and the fortress, which are finely situated on a commanding +elevation, and enjoy a prospect of great extent and splendid variety. + +Madame Pfeiffer was much struck by the diverseness of the conveyances +that dash through the pleasant, breezy streets of this picturesque city. +The most common, but the least convenient, are called _carriols_. They +consist of a very long, narrow, and uncovered box, strung between two +enormously high wheels, and provided with a very small seat, into which +the passenger must squeeze himself, with outstretched feet, and a +leathern apron drawn over his legs; nor can he, nor dare he, move, from +the moment he gets in until he gets out again. A place behind is +provided for the coachman, in case the occupant of the _carriol_ is +disinclined to drive; but as it is unpleasant to have the reins shaken +about one's head, and the whip constantly flourishing in one's ears, the +services of a driver are seldom in requisition. Besides these unshapely +vehicles, there are phaetons, droschkis, chariots, and similar light +conveyances; but no covered carriages. + +* * * * * + +From Christiania to Stockholm. + +At Gothenburg Madame Pfeiffer embarked on board the steamer which plies +on the Gotha Canal, the great water-way, linking streams and lakes, which +affords access to the Swedish capital. She found herself before long on +the River Gotha, and at Lilla Edet came to the first of the five locks +which occur there. While the boat was passing through them she had an +opportunity of seeing the Gotha Falls, which, though of no great height, +pour down a considerable volume of water. + +Through fir woods, brown with shadows, the canal winds onward to the +magnificent locks of Trollhatten--an engineering achievement of which any +nation might be justly proud. They are eleven in number, and rise by +gradations to a height of 112 feet in a distance of 3550 feet. The wide, +deep channel excavated in the rock is literally paved with flagstones; +and these locks mount one above the other like the solitary steps of a +majestic stairway, and almost lay claim to be ranked among the world's +wonders. + +While the steamer passes through the successive barriers the passengers +have time to make an excursion to the falls of Trollhatten, which are +less remarkable for their elevation than for their flood of waters and +the picturesqueness of the surrounding scenery. + +Beyond Trollhatten the stream expands to the proportions of a lake, while +a number of green and wooded islands divide it into several channels. +Thence it traverses the Lake of Wenner, which is ten or twelve miles +long, and proceeds onward through a country of no great interest, until +at Sjotorp it passes into the river again. A few miles further, and it +crosses the Vilkensoc, which, like all the other Swedish lakes, is +charmingly studded with islands. It lies three hundred and six feet +above the level of the North Sea, and is the culminating point of the +canal, which thence descends through about seventy locks, traversing the +Bottensee and Lake Wetter. + +After a tedious journey of five days, Madame Pfeiffer reached the shores +of the Baltic, which are finely indented by bays and rivers, with long +stretches of lofty cliff, and, inland, dense masses of fir woods. Leaving +the sea again, a short canal conducts the voyager into Lake Malar, +celebrated for its cluster of islands. The lake at first resembles a +broad river, but soon widens to a great extent; the beauty of the scenery +never fails to excite the traveller's admiration. It is said that a +thousand isles besprinkle its surface; they are crowded together in the +most picturesque and varied groups, forming streams, and bays, and a +chain of smaller lakes, and continually revealing some new and attractive +feature. + +Not less charming the shores: sometimes the hills and mountains pass +close to the water, and their steep and rocky sides frown like thunder- +smitten ramparts; but generally the eye is delighted by a constant and +brightly-coloured panorama of meadows, woods, and valleys, villages, and +sequestered farmhouses. On the summit of a steep declivity a high pole +is erected, to which hangs suspended the hat of the unfortunate King +Erik. It is said of him, that having fled from the field of battle, he +was here overtaken by one of his soldiers, whose stern reproaches so +stung him to the heart that he drove his spurs into his horse's sides, +and clearing the precipice with a bound, sank for ever beneath the waters +of the lake. His hat, which fell from his head as he made the plunge, is +preserved as a memorial of a king's remorse. + +* * * * * + +On arriving at Stockholm, several stalwart women offer us their services +as porters. They are Dalecarlians, who earn a livelihood by carrying +luggage or water, by rowing boats, and by resorting to other occupations +generally reserved for the stronger sex. Honest, industrious, capable of +immense fatigue, they never lack employment. They wear short black +petticoats, red bodices, white chemises with long sleeves, short and +narrow aprons of two colours, red stockings, and shoes with thick wooden +soles. Around their heads they generally bind a handkerchief, or else +wear a very small black cap, which just covers the back of their hair. + +Stockholm proves, on examination, to be a handsome city, situated at the +junction of the Baltic with the Lake Malar; or, more strictly speaking, +on the banks of a short canal which unites the two. One of its most +conspicuous buildings is the stately Ritterholm Church, which Madame +Pfeiffer describes as resembling rather a vault and an armoury than a +religious edifice. In the side chapels are enshrined the monuments of +dead Swedish kings, whose bones lie in the royal sepulchres below. On +both sides of the nave are ranged the equestrian statues of armed +knights; while from every vantage-point hang flags and standards. The +keys of captured towns and fortresses are suspended in the side chapels, +and drums and kettle-drums piled upon the floor--trophies won from the +enemies of Sweden in the days when she was a great European power. The +chapels also contain, enclosed in glass-cases, parts of the dress and +armour of some of the Swedish monarchs. We notice, with keen interest, +the uniform worn by Charles XII.--he + + "Who left a name at which the world grew pale, + To point a moral or adorn a tale"-- + +at the time of his death, and the hat penetrated by the fatal shot that +slew the fiery warrior. A remarkable contrast is afforded by the rich +dress and plumed hat of Bernadotte, the French soldier of fortune, who +founded the present royal house. + +The royal palace is a stately structure, and its interior is enriched +with the costliest decoration. The Ritter-house, the Museum of Ancient +Art, the Crown-Prince's palace, the theatre, the bank, the mint, are all +deserving of inspection. In the vicinity a trip may be made to the +beautiful and diversified scenery of the Royal Park, or the military +school at Karlberg, or to the ancient royal castle of Gripsholm on the +Lake of Malar. + +But our last excursion must be directed, by way of Upsala, to the iron- +mines of Danemora. + +The little village of Danemora is embosomed in woods. It contains a +small church and a few scattered houses of various dimensions. The +neighbourhood abounds in the usual indications of a mining locality. +Madame Pfeiffer arrived in what is called "the nick of time," and just +opportunely, to witness the blasting of the ore. From the wide opening +of the largest mine it is possible to see what passes below; and a +strange and wonderful sight it is to peer down into the abyss, four +hundred and eighty feet deep, and observe the colossal entrances to the +various pits, the rocky bridges, the projections, arches, and caverns +excavated in the solid rock. The miners appear so many puppets; their +movements can hardly be distinguished, until the eye has grown accustomed +to the darkness and to their diminutive size. + +At the given moment a match was applied to four trains of gunpowder. The +man who lighted them immediately sprang back, and hid himself behind a +wall of rock. In a minute or two came the flash; a few stones were +hurled into the air; and immediately afterwards was heard a loud +detonation, and the shattered mass fell in fragments all around. Echo +caught up the tremendous explosion, and carried it to the furthest +recesses of the mine; while, to enhance the terror of the scene, one rock +was hardly shivered before another crash was heard, and then a third, and +immediately afterwards a fourth. + +[Iron-mine of Danemora: page179.jpg] + +The other pits are still deeper, one of them being six hundred feet +beneath the ground; but as they are smaller in their openings, and as the +shafts are not always perpendicular, the gaze is soon lost in the +obscurity, which produces a dismal effect upon the spectator. The iron +obtained from the Swedish mines is of excellent quality, and large +quantities are annually exported. + +* * * * * + +Madame Pfeiffer now began her homeward journey, and, by way of Hamburg +and Berlin, proceeded to Dresden. Thence she returned to Vienna on the +6th of October, after an absence of six months. + + + + +CHAPTER IV.--LAST TRAVELS. + + +Madame Pfeiffer set out on what proved to be her final expedition, on the +21st of May 1856. She proceeded to Berlin, thence to Amsterdam, Leyden, +Rotterdam; visited London and Paris; and afterwards undertook the voyage +to the Cape of Good Hope. Here she hesitated for a while in what +direction she should turn her adventurous steps before she pushed forward +to the goal of her hopes--Madagascar. At length she decided on a visit +to the Mauritius; and it is at this part of her journey that we propose +to take up her record. + +[Port Louis, Mauritius: page183.jpg] + +She saw much scenery in this rich and beautiful little island that moved +her to admiration. The volcanic mountains assume the boldest and most +romantic outlines. The vegetation is of the most luxuriant character. +Each deep gorge or mountain-valley blooms with foliage; and the slopes +are clothed with stately trees, graceful shrubs, and climbing plants; +while shining streams fall from crag to crag in miniature cascades. Of +course Madame Pfeiffer visited the sugar-cane plantations, which cover +the broad and fertile plains of Pamplemousse. She learned that the sugar- +cane is not raised from seed, but that pieces of cane are planted. The +first cane requires eighteen months to ripen; but as, meanwhile, the +chief stem throws out shoots, each of the following harvests can be +gathered in at intervals of twelve months; hence four crops can be +obtained in four years and a half. After the fourth harvest, the field +must be cleared completely of the cane. If the land be virgin soil, on +which no former crop has been raised, fresh slips of cane may be planted +immediately, and thus eight crops secured in nine years. But if such is +not the case, "ambrezades" must be planted--that is, a leafy plant, +growing to the height of eight or nine feet, the leaves of which, +continually falling, decay and fertilize the soil. After two years the +plants are rooted out, and the ground is once more occupied by a sugar +plantation. + +When the canes are ripe and the harvest begins, every day as many canes +are cut down as can be pressed and boiled at once. The cane is +introduced between two rollers, set in motion by steam-power, and pressed +until it is quite flat and dry: in this state it is used for fuel. The +juice is strained successively into six pans, of which the first is +exposed to the greatest heat--the force of the fire being diminished +gradually under each of the others. In the last pan the sugar is found +half crystallized. It is then deposited on great wooden tables to cool, +and granulate into complete crystals of about the size of a pin's head. +Lastly, it is poured into wooden colanders, to filter it thoroughly of +the molasses it still contains. The whole process occupies eight or ten +days. Before the sugar is packed, it is spread out on the open terraces +to dry for some hours in the sun. + +* * * * * + +An excursion was made to Mount Orgueil, in order to obtain a panoramic +view of the island-scenery. On one side the lofty ridge of the Morne +Brabant, connected with the mainland only by a narrow neck of earth, +stretches far out into the sapphire sea; near at hand rises the Piton de +la Riviere Noire, the loftiest summit in the island, two thousand five +hundred and sixty-four feet. In another direction are visible the green +tops of the Tamarin and the Rempart; and in a fourth, the three-headed +mountain called the Trois Mamelles. Contiguous to these opens a deep +caldron, two of the sides of which have broken down in ruin, while the +others remain erect and steep. Besides these mountains, the traveller +sees the Corps de Garde du Port Loris de Mocca; Le Pouce, with its narrow +peak projecting above the plateau like a thumb; and the precipitous Peter +Botte. + +The last-named mountain recalls the memory of the daring Hollander who +first reached its summit, long regarded as impracticable. He succeeded +in what seemed a hopeless effort by shooting an arrow, to which a strong +cord was attached, over the top. The arrow fell on the other side of the +mountain, at a point which could be attained without much difficulty. A +stout rope was then fastened to the cord, drawn over the mountain, and +secured on both sides; and Peter Botte hauled himself up by it to the +topmost crest, and thus immortalized his name. The ascent has since been +accomplished by English travellers. + +A trip was also undertaken to the Trou de Cerf, or "Stag's Hole," a +crater of perfectly regular formation, brimful of bloom and foliage. As +no sign or mark betrays its whereabouts, the traveller is seized with +astonishment on suddenly reaching its brink. His astonishment soon wears +off, and he feels an intense delight in contemplating the view before +him. It comprises three-fourths of the island: majestic mountains +clothed in virgin forests almost to their very crests; wide-spreading +plains, green with the leafiness of the sugar-cane plantations; cool +verdurous valleys, where the drowsy shadows softly rest; and beyond and +around the blue sea with a fringe of snow-white foam marking the +indentations of the coast. + +* * * * * + +On the 25th of April 1857 Madame Pfeiffer sailed for Madagascar, and +after a six-days' voyage reached the harbour of Tamatave. + +Madagascar, the reader may be reminded, is, next to Borneo, the largest +island in the world. It is separated from the African mainland by the +Mozambique Channel, only seventy-five miles wide. It stretches from lat. +12 to 25 degrees S., and long. 40 to 48 degrees E. Its area is about ten +thousand geographical square miles. + +[The Traveller's Tree: page189.jpg] + +Madagascar contains forests of immense extent, far-reaching plains and +valleys, rivers, lakes, and great chains of mountains, which raise their +summits to an elevation of ten or twelve thousand feet. The climate is +tropical, the vegetation remarkable for abundance and variety. The chief +products are gums and odoriferous balsams, sugar, tobacco, maize, indigo, +silk, spices. The woods yield many valuable kinds of timber, and almost +every fruit of the Torrid Zone, besides the curious and useful +Traveller's Tree. Palms are found in dense and beautiful groves; and +among them is the exquisite water-palm, or lattice leaf-plant. In the +animal kingdom Madagascar possesses some remarkable forms; as, for +instance, the makis, or half-ape, and the black parrot. The population +consists of four distinct races: the Kaffirs, who inhabit the south; the +Negroes, who dwell in the west; the Arabs in the east; and in the +interior the Malays, among whom the Hovas are the most numerous and the +most civilized. + +* * * * * + +Tamatave, when visited by Madame Pfeiffer looked like a poor but very +large village, with between four and five thousand inhabitants. Of late +years, however, it has grown into a place of much commercial importance. +There are some decent houses; but the natives live chiefly in small huts, +which are scattered over a wide area, with scarcely any attempt at +regularity of arrangement. These huts are supported on piles from six to +ten feet high. They are built of wood or of bamboo, thatched with long +grass or palm-leaves; and they contain only one room, of which the +fireplace occupies a disproportionate share. Windows are wanting, but +light and air are admitted through two opposite doors. + +The bazaar is situated in the middle of the village, on an irregular +piece of ground, and is distinguished alike by its dirt and poverty. The +articles exposed for sale are only a supply of beef, some sugar-cane, +rice, and a few fruits; and the whole stock of one of the dealers would +be dear at a couple of shillings. The oxen are slaughtered on the spot, +and their flesh sold in thick hunches, with the skin, which is esteemed a +great delicacy. Meat is not bought according to weight, but the size of +each piece is measured by the eye. + +The Tamatavians are principally Malagasys; and, physically, their +appearance does not recommend them. They have wide mouths, with thick +lips; their noses are broad and flat; their chins protrude; their cheek- +bones are disagreeably prominent. Their complexion may be any shade of a +muddy brown. Generally, their teeth are regular, and very white; but +against this redeeming trait must be put their hideous hair, which is +coal-black, very long, very woolly, and very coarse. When worn in all +its natural amplitude, its effect is curiously disagreeable. The face +seems lost in a "boundless convexity" of thick frizzled hair, which +stands out in every direction. But, usually, the men cut their hair +quite short at the back of the head, leaving only a length of six or +eight inches in front, which stands upright, like a hedge of wool. Much +pride is felt in their "head of hair" by the women, and even by some of +the men; and, unwilling to shorten so ornamental an appendage, they plait +it into numerous little tails. Some coquettishly allow these tails to +droop all about their head; others twist them together into a band or +bunch, covering the top of the head like a cap. No wonder that much time +is spent in the preparation of so complex a head-gear; but then, on the +other hand, when once made up it will last for several days. + +Now as to the costume of these interesting semi-savages. Their articles +of clothing are two in number--the _sadik_ and the _simbre_. The former, +which by many natives is considered quite sufficient, is a strip of cloth +worn round the loins. The simbre is a piece of white stuff, about four +yards long and three broad, which is worn much like a toga. As it is +constantly coming loose, and every minute needing adjustment, it is an +exceedingly troublesome though not ungraceful garment, keeping one hand +of the wearer almost constantly employed. + +Males and females wear the same attire, except that the latter indulge in +a little more drapery, and often add a third article--a short tight +jacket, called _kanezu_. + +Simple as is the clothing of the Malagasy, their food is not less simple. +At every meal, rice and anana are the principal or only dishes. Anana is +a vegetable very much like spinach, of a by no means disagreeable flavour +in itself, but not savoury when cooked with rancid fat. Fish is +sometimes eaten, but not often--for indolence is a great Malagasy +quality--by those who dwell on the borders of rivers or on the sea-shore; +meat and poultry, though both are cheap, are eaten only on special +occasions. The natives partake of two meals--one in the morning, the +other in the evening. + +The rice and anana are washed down with _ranugang_, or rice-water, thus +prepared: Rice is boiled in a vessel, and purposely burned, until a crust +forms at the bottom. The water is poured on, and allowed to boil. The +water in colour resembles pale coffee, and in taste is abominable to a +European palate. The natives, however, esteem it highly, and not only +drink the water, but eat the crust. + +* * * * * + +One of the great ceremonies of Madagascar, the royal bath-feast, is +described by Madame Pfeiffer. It is celebrated on the Malagasy +New-Year's Day, and has some curious features. On the eve, all the high +officers, nobles, and chiefs are invited to court; and assembling in a +great hall, partake of a dish of rice, which is handed round to each +guest with much solemnity that he may take a pinch with his fingers and +eat. Next day, all reassemble in the same place; and the queen steps +behind a curtain, which hangs in a corner of the room, undresses, and +submits to copious ablutions. Assuming her clothes, she comes forward, +holding in her hand an ox-horn that has been filled with water from her +bath; and this she sprinkles over the assembled company--reserving a +portion for the soldiers drawn up on parade beneath her window. + +Throughout the country this day is an occasion of festivity, and dancing, +singing, and feasting are kept up till a late hour. Nor does the revel +end then; it is prolonged for eight days. The people on the first day +are accustomed to kill as many oxen as will supply them with meat for the +whole period; and no man who possesses a herd, however small, fails to +kill at least one for this annual celebration. The poor exchange rice, +and tobacco, and several potatoes, for pieces of meat. These pieces are +long thin strips; and being salted, and laid one upon another, they keep +tolerably well until the eighth day. + +Madame Pfeiffer had an opportunity of witnessing the dances, but did not +find them very interesting. + +Some girls beat a little stick with all their might against a thick stem +of bamboo; while others sang, or rather howled, at their highest and +loudest pitch. Then two of the ebony beauties stepped forward, and began +to move slowly to and fro on a small space of ground, half lifting their +arms, and turning their hands, first outwards, and then towards their +sides. Next, one of the men made his _debut_. He tripped about much in +the same style as the dusky _danseuses_, only with greater energy; and +each time he approached any of the women or girls, he made gestures +expressive of his love and admiration. + +* * * * * + +Our traveller obtained permission to enter into the interior of the +island, and to visit Antananarivo, {197} the capital. As she approached +it, she could see it picturesquely planted on a high hill that rose out +of the broad and fertile inland plain; and after a pleasant journey +through rich and beautiful scenery, she came upon the suburbs, which +enclose it on all sides. + +The suburbs at first were villages; but they have gradually expanded +until they have been formed into a compact aggregate. Most of the houses +are built of earth or clay; but those belonging to the city must, by +royal decree, be constructed of planks, or at least of bamboo. They are +all of a larger size than the dwellings of the villagers; are much +cleaner, and kept in better condition. The roofs are very high and +steep, with long poles reared at each end by way of ornament. Many +houses, and sometimes groups of three or four houses, are surrounded by +low ramparts of earth, apparently for no other purpose than to separate +the courtyards from the neighbouring tenements. The streets and squares +are all very irregularly built: the houses are not placed in rows, but in +clusters,--some at the foot of the hill, others on its slopes. The royal +palace crowns the summit. + +Madame Pfeiffer expressing her surprise at the number of +lightning-conductors that everywhere appeared, was informed that perhaps +in no other part of the world were thunderstorms so frequent or so fatal. +She was told that, at Antananarivo, about three hundred people were +killed by lightning every year. + +The interior of the town was in appearance exactly like one of the +suburbs, except that the houses were built of planks or of bamboo. + +At the time of Madame Pfeiffer's visit, the sovereign of Madagascar was +Queen Ranavala, memorable for her sanguinary propensities, her hatred of +Europeans, and her persecution of the Christian converts. It proves the +extraordinary power of fascination which our traveller possessed, that +she obtained from this feminine despot so many concessions--being allowed +to travel about the island with comparative freedom, and being even +admitted to the royal presence. The latter incident is thus described:-- + +Towards four o'clock in the afternoon her bearers carried Madame Pfeiffer +to the palace, over the door of which a great gilded eagle expands its +wings. According to rule, in stepping across the threshold the visitor +put her right foot foremost; and this ceremony she also observed on +entering, through a second gateway, the spacious courtyard in front of +the palace. Here the queen was visible, being seated on a balcony on the +first story, and Madame Pfeiffer and her attendants were directed to +stand in a row in the courtyard opposite to her. Under the balcony some +soldiers were going through divers evolutions, which concluded, comically +enough, by suddenly lifting up the right foot as if it had been stung by +a wasp. + +The queen was attired in a wide silk simbre, and wore on her head a large +golden crown. Though she sat in the shade, a very ample umbrella of +crimson silk--throughout the East a sign of royal dignity--was held over +her head. She was of rather dark complexion, strongly and even sturdily +built, and, though seventy-five years of age, remarkably healthy and +active. On her right stood her son, Prince Rakoto; and on her left, her +adopted son, Prince Ramboasalama. Behind her were gathered nephews, +nieces, and other relatives, and the dignitaries and grandees of her +kingdom. + +The minister who had conducted Madame Pfeiffer and her companion--M. +Lambert, a French adventurer, who played a conspicuous part in the +affairs of Madagascar--addressed a short speech to the queen; after which +the visitors had to bow thrice, and to repeat the words, "Esaratsara +tombokoc" (We salute you cordially); to which she replied, "Esaratsara" +(We salute you). They then turned to the left to salute King Radama's +tomb, which was close at hand, with three similar bows; afterwards +returning to their former position in front of the balcony, and making +three more. M. Lambert next held up a gold piece of eighty francs value, +and placed it in the hands of the minister who had introduced them. This +gift, which is expected from every stranger when first presented, is +called "Monosina." The queen then asked M. Lambert if he wished to put +any question to her, or if he needed anything, and also addressed a +remark or two to Madame Pfeiffer. The bowings and greetings were then +resumed; obeisance was paid to King Radama's monument; and the visitors, +as they retired, were again cautioned not to put the left foot first over +the threshold. + +The royal palace is (or was) a very large timber building, consisting of +a ground-floor and two stories, surmounted by a singularly high-pitched +roof. Each story is surrounded by a broad gallery. The roof is +supported on wooden pillars, eighty feet high, and rises forty feet above +them, resting in the centre on a pillar not less than a hundred and +twenty feet in height. All these columns are fashioned each from a +single trunk; and when it is considered, says our authority, that the +forests containing trees of sufficient size for this purpose lie fifty or +sixty miles from the capital, that the roads are nowhere paved, and in +some places are quite impassable, and that all the pillars are dragged to +the capital without the help of a beast of burden or any single machine, +and are afterwards wrought and set up with the simplest tools, the +erection of this palace may justly be called a gigantic undertaking, and +the palace itself ranked among the wonders of the world. + +The government of Madagascar has always been Draconian in its severity, +and the penalty exacted for almost every offence is blood. Some of the +unfortunates are burned; others are hurled over a high rock; others +buried alive; others scalded to death with boiling water; others killed +with the spear; others sewn up alive in mats, and left to perish of +hunger and corruption; and others beheaded. Recourse is not unfrequently +had to poison, which is used as a kind of ordeal or test. This is +applicable to all classes; and as any one may accuse another, on +depositing a certain sum of money,--and as, moreover, no accused person +is allowed to defend himself,--the ordeal does not fall into disrepute +for want of use. If the accused endures it without perishing, a third +part of the deposit is awarded to him, a third part goes to the court, +and the remainder is returned to the accuser. But if the accused die, +his guilt is considered to have been established, and the accuser +receives back the whole of his money. + +The poisoning process takes place as follows:-- + +The material employed is obtained from the kernel of a fruit as large as +a peach, called the _Tanghinia venenifera_. The lampi-tanghini, or +person who administers the poison, announces to the accused the day on +which the perilous dose is to be swallowed. For eight-and-forty hours +before the prescribed time he is allowed to eat very little, and for the +last twenty-four hours nothing at all. His friends accompany him to the +poisoner's house. There he undresses, and takes oath that he has had no +recourse to magic. The lampi-tanghini then scrapes away as much powder +from the kernel with a knife as he judges necessary for the trial. Before +administering the dose, he asks the accused if he confesses his crime; +which the accused never does, because under any circumstances he would +have to swallow the poison. The said poison is spread upon three little +pieces of skin, each about an inch in size, cut from the back of a plump +fowl. These he rolls together, and administers to the supposed culprit. + +"In former days," says Madame Pfeiffer, "almost every person who was +subjected to this ordeal died in great agony; but for the last ten years +any one not condemned by the queen herself to take the tanghin, is +allowed to make use of the following antidote. As soon as he has taken +the poison, his friends make him drink rice-water in such quantities that +his whole body sometimes swells visibly, and quick and violent vomiting +is brought on. If the poisoned man be fortunate enough to get rid not +only of the poison, but of the three little skins (which latter must be +returned uninjured), he is declared innocent, and his relations carry him +home in triumph, with songs and rejoicings. But if one of the pieces of +skin should fail to reappear, or if it be at all injured, his life is +forfeited, and he is executed with the spear, or by some other means." +{204} + +* * * * * + +During Madame Pfeiffer's stay at Antananarivo a conspiracy broke out, +provoked by the queen's cruelty. It failed, however, in its object; and +those concerned in it were mercilessly punished. The Christians became +anew exposed to the suspicions and wrath of Ranavala; and Madame Pfeiffer +and her companions found themselves in a position of great peril. The +royal council debated vehemently the question, Whether they should be put +to death? and this being answered in the affirmative, What death they +should die? Happily, Prince Rakoto interfered, pointing out that the +murder of Europeans would not be allowed to pass unavenged, but would +bring down upon Madagascar the fleets and armies of the great European +powers. This argument finally prevailed; and Madame Pfeiffer and the +other Europeans, six in all, then in Antananarivo, were ordered to quit +it immediately. They were only too thankful to escape with their lives, +and within an hour were on their way to Tamatave, escorted by seventy +Malagasy soldiers. They had good cause to congratulate themselves on +their escape, for on the very morning of their departure ten Christians +had been put to death with the most terrible tortures. + +The journey to Tamatave was not without its dangers and difficulties, and +Madame Pfeiffer, who had been attacked with fever, suffered severely. The +escort purposely delayed them on the road; so that, instead of reaching +the coast in eight days, the time actually occupied was three-and-fifty. +This was the more serious, because the road ran through low-lying and +malarious districts. In the most unhealthy spots, moreover, the +travellers were left in wretched huts for a whole week, or even two +weeks; and frequently, when Madame Pfeiffer was groaning in a violent +excess of fever, the brutal soldiers dragged her from her miserable +couch, and compelled her to continue her journey. + +At length, on the 12th of September, she arrived at Tamatave; broken-down +and unutterably weary and worn, but still alive. Ill as she was, she +gladly embarked on board a ship which was about to sail for the +Mauritius; and reaching that pleasant island on the 22nd, met with a +hearty welcome from her friends--to whom, indeed, she was as one who had +been dead and was alive again. + +The mental and physical sufferings she had undergone, combined with the +peculiar effects of the fever, now brought on an illness of so serious a +character that for long the doctors doubted whether her recovery was +possible. On her sixtieth birthday, the 14th of October, they pronounced +the brave lady out of danger; but, in fact, her constitution had received +a fatal shock. The fever became intermittent in its attacks, but it +never wholly left her; though she continued, with unabated energy and +liveliness, to lay down plans for fresh expeditions. She had made all +her preparations for a voyage to Australia, when a return of her disease, +in February 1858, compelled her to renounce her intention, and to direct +her steps homeward. + +Early in the month of June she arrived in London, where she remained for +a few weeks. Thence she repaired to Berlin. + +Her strength was now declining day by day, though at first she seemed to +regard her illness as only temporary, and against the increasing physical +weakness her mind struggled with its usual activity. About September, +she evinced a keen anxiety to behold her home once more,--evidently +having arrived at a conviction that her end was near. She was carefully +conveyed to Vienna, and received into the house of her brother, Charles +Reyer; where, at first, the influence of her native air had an +invigorating effect. This gave way after a week or two, and her illness +returned with augmented force. During the last days of her life, opiates +were administered to relieve her sufferings; and in the night between the +27th and 28th of October she passed away peacefully, and apparently +without pain,--leaving behind her the memory of a woman of matchless +intrepidity, surprising energy, and heroic fixity of purpose. + + + + +NOTES. + + +{105} Since Madame Pfeiffer's time this mode of self-torture has been +prohibited by the British Government. + +{197} That is, the "City of a Thousand Towns." + +{204} We give Madame Pfeiffer's account, as an illustration of the old +ways of Madagascar society. But the poison-ordeal has of late been +abandoned, owing to Christian influence. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF IDA PFEIFFER*** + + +******* This file should be named 18037.txt or 18037.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/0/3/18037 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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